House of Saud Playing With Fire

Riyadh has started a destructive game spelling fatal consequences for itself, a diplomat warned, referring to terrorist attacks hitting Tehran early this month that Iran blamed on Saudis.  

“The Saudis have been pursuing [hostile] policies against Iran and the region for decades”, ISNA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari as saying in a talk with Lebanon’s Al-Ahed news website published on Saturday.

“For all these years the Saudis have been supporting the terrorists. These games may have positive short-term results, but it will get the Saudis into trouble and eventually drown them.”

On June 7, five gunmen stormed Iran’s parliament and the Imam Khomeini mausoleum in Tehran, killing 18 people and wounding more than 50.

The self-styled Islamic State claimed the attacks, and it received a response 11 days later, when six Iranian missiles hit the terror group’s positions in eastern Syria last Sunday, the first missile strike by Iran outside its territory since the end of Iran-Iraq war (1980-88).

 More Than a Coincidence

“It’s more than a coincidence that Saudi officials made anti-Iran remarks at the same time that Tehran attacks were carried out.  We have intelligence reports that show Saudi rulers have connections with terrorist groups operating inside Iran.”

Jaberi Ansari was referring to remarks in May by Saudi Arabia’s then deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman that Riyadh would bring “the battle” with Tehran inside Iran and a tweet by that country’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir shortly before the attacks that Tehran “should be punished” for its regional policies.

Days after the attacks, senior officials, including President Hassan Rouhani and military commanders, accused the house of Saud of being involved in the deadly attacks.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on June 13 that the Saudis are “actively engaged in promoting terrorist groups” operating in the eastern and western border areas.

Saudi Arabia has denied involvement in the assaults, which came as tensions between the two regional powers are at the highest in years.

 Boomerang Effect

Jaberi Ansari said Saudi officials have ignominiously not learned a lesson from their mistakes in the past decades that actually turned terrorism into a daunting global challenge.

“The tactic of playing the terrorism card has led to major catastrophes in the region and the world.

“In the past some powers used terrorists against the former Soviet Union [in Afghanistan in 1980s] and reaped what they sowed on September 11. Now, some regional and trans-regional states are flirting with the same policies in Iraq and Syria and the results [terrorist attacks] can be seen across the globe.”

Jaberi Ansari said hostile plots against Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution have made the country “resilient” and attempts at undermining and destabilizing Tehran are an exercise in futility.

“Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. It is a mistake to continue on the same path [against Iran], which has been proven wrong.”