The fact that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has joined the vicious triangle of the United States, Israel and Britain to destabilize the Islamic Republic of Iran and put pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program is not a secret anymore. The Saudi officials have openly stated their opposition to Iran’s access to peaceful nuclear energy and even have boastfully promised to make up for the amount of crude oil which the EU member states will be losing after imposing a multilateral oil embargo against Iran, which is seen as an effort to force Iran into giving up its nuclear rights.
The Saudis are officially considered to be among the Muslim states which don’t recognize the Israeli regime; however, they haven’t hesitated to publicize their ties with the Israeli officials during the recent years, especially when it comes to their cooperation with Tel Aviv against Iran.
Allying with the Zionist regime and betraying a Muslim friend with which it had long maintained sound and reasonable ties can be considered as a manifestation of the Saudis’ miscalculations and their erroneous analyses about the position of Iran in the international community; a position which has been bolstered with the unexpectedly massive participation of Iranians in the recent parliamentary elections in early March, showing people’s solidarity and steadfastness in the face of harsh economic sanctions and paralyzing political pressures.
Recent WikiLeaks reports suggest that Saudi officials have been working closely with Mossad to step up pressure against Iran and gathering intelligence about the country’s nuclear program.
In the Stratfor (a Texas-based global intelligence firm) emails leaked by WikiLeaks and obtained by the Beirut-based Al Akhbar newspaper, it was revealed Saudi Arabia reached out to the Mossad, which assisted the Kingdom with, as Al Akhbar reports, “intelligence collection and advice on Iran.”
According to a source quoted in the emails, “Several enterprising Mossad officers, both past and present, are making a bundle selling the Saudis everything from security equipment, intelligence and consultation.”
There are also credible reports indicating that Mossad’s chief has recently visited Saudi Arabia and talked to Saudi officials about the possible plans for attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities and the role the Arab nation can play in this dangerous anti-Iranian scenario.
As written by Haaretz, “the talks conducted in Saudi Arabia with the head of Israel’s espionage agency dealt with Iran and its nuclear program. The account follows a series of recent reports on increasing secret cooperation between Israel and the Saudis, including defense coordination on matters related to possible military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.”
Another report by the Times of London revealed that in 2010 and during the course of a Saudi military exercise, air defense system operations were halted for a few hours to rehearse a scenario whereby Israeli fighter planes would cross Saudi Arabian air space en route to an attack on Iran.
Other independent media reports also confirmed that Israeli air force planes and helicopters have recently landed in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of positioning warfare and equipment there to be used in a possible military assault on Iran. Actually, it’s one of the plans of the Israeli officials to use the airspace of Saudi Arabia, Iran’s southwestern neighbor, for launching an attack against the country’s nuclear installations and, seemingly, the Saudis are not reluctant to giving a green light to Tel Aviv in this regard.
In retrospect, the Saudi officials have expressively and explicitly denounced Iran’s nuclear program and called on the U.S. and its European alliess to tighten the noose of economic sanctions around their Muslim neighbor as if they’re unaware of the fact that several IAEA and NIE reports have confirmed that Iran is not, and has not been after nuclear weapons and has never diverted from the path of using nuclear technology for peaceful ends.
Two years ago, in a joint press conference with his American counterpart, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saudi al-Faisal said that economic sanctions cannot guarantee that Iran will retreat from its nuclear program and a more effective solution is needed for the “threats posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions.”
Al-Faisal described sanctions as a long-term solution and said the perceived threat coming from Iran is more pressing. “We see the issue in the shorter term because we are closer to the threat. We need immediate resolution rather than gradual resolution,” he said. The Saudi prince did not specify any short-term resolution, but it seems that his implied option, which he did not rule out, is a military intervention in Iran.
The Saudis are also trying to convince the U.S. and Europe that Iran’s nuclear program poses a threat to their security and should be hindered as soon as possible. That’s why many U.S. and European officials state in their bilateral meetings with Saudi officials that a “nuclear-armed Iran” is harmful to the security of the Persian Gulf.
“I understand the Arab world cannot allow that Iran continues to develop nuclear weapons,” said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the leader of opposition party in the German parliament and former foreign minister in a February meeting with the Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.
The Saudi kingdom’s hostility toward Iran, however, has gone beyond the pale. In the recent months that war rhetoric and economic sanctions against Tehran have been swaying in the sky, e Saudi officials have sent signals that they’re ready to offset any shortfall that may happen in the crude oil market after the EU member states’ foreign ministers reached an agreement to impose an oil embargo on Iran which will come into effect in early July.
According to an Associated Press report, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said on March 14 that his country and other oil exporters are ready to offset any shortfalls in supply because of market volatility, an apparent reference to showdowns with Iran over its nuclear program.
At any rate, the stance which Riyadh has adopted against Tehran is absolutely in line with the anti-Iranian policies of the Israeli regime. They’re dancing to Israel’s tune and performing what Tel Aviv desires the most: isolating Iran, ramping up pressure against the people and creating discord between them to persuade them to rise against the government. However, what is clear is that such pressures cannot bring Iranians to their knees and will only unveil the true face of the enemies of this nation. Over the course of three decades since the victory of the Islamic revolution, Iran has been constantly the target of enmity and belligerence by the global superpowers and their allies, so the recent antagonistic policies and hostilities of Saudi Arabia are nothing new or surprising.
Kourosh Ziabari is an Iranian independent, freelance journalist.
