Foreign Minister Javad Zarif contended that U.S. Secretary of State Mike “Pompeo’s hurried trips to the region, the trilateral meeting in Saudi Arabia and Netanyahu’s statements all point to this conspiracy that unfortunately emerged in Friday’s [27 November] cowardly terrorist act and the martyrdom of one of the country’s top executives”. A senior Saudi official subsequently maintained that “Zarif is desperate to blame the Kingdom for anything negative that happens in Iran… It is not the policy of Saudi Arabia to engage in assassinations; unlike Iran, which has done so since the Khomeini Revolution in 1979”. Relatedly, Saudi Arabia’s UN envoy maintained that “the loss of a Muslim scientist is a loss to the entire Muslim Umma (world)”, emphasising that “emotional and spontaneous reactions won't bring positive outcomes”.