Saudi Arabia ’Is Playing’ on Borrowed Time: the War on Iran!

Hamza Khansa

The ruling Saudi family openly announced that it is leading a war of attrition against the Islamic Republic of Iran. It seems that whatever the Saudis were harboring or practicing in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, they have decided to move directly to the heart of Iran through the banned group, "People's Mojahedin of Iran" or "Mojahedin-e-Khalq" [MKO].

The war between the two regional powers has moved to a new level of confrontation. The periods before and after Turki Al-Faisal sponsored the "Mojahedin-e-Khalq" conference in Paris and announced his explicit intention to overthrow the government in Iran are not the same. Tehran's practical reaction to Riyadh's latest attack will determine the level of confrontation and the intensity.

It is true that the former chief of Saudi intelligence Prince Turki al-Faisal was not a member of the official Saudi diplomatic or government delegations. But his role as the head of the Board of Trustees at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Saudi Arabia consecrated him as a supervisor of Saudi foreign policy, especially in the arena of Saudi-Israeli relations and the joint efforts between Riyadh and Tel Aviv to face what both see as "an Iranian existential threat".

The Paris conference was packed with Arab and Western personalities who share American and pro-Israeli sentiments, like George Sabra, for example. But Turki al-Faisal, the godfather of the Saudi-Israeli convergence stole the show. The paradigms he used when talking about Iran - paradigms falling inline with the [Persian] Gulf media's editorial policies - strictly decorated Maryam Rajavi's speech [Maryam Rajavi is the president of MKO]. This explains why the Saudi media was celebrating the event, portraying it as an important Saudi achievement in the open confrontation with Iran. At the peak of the celebration, Jamal Khashoggi, the pampered correspondent of the royal court, made it appear as if the ruling Saudi family has a plan for "defeating Iran".

In response to some who criticized Turki al-Faisal's participation in the "Mojahedin-e-Khalq" conference, Khashoggi tweeted: "criticizing Turki al-Faisal's participation in the Iranian opposition's conference demonstrates that some of us want to defeat Iran through wishes and without any national work and effort...". It has become clear that Saudi Arabia is working day and night to "defeat Iran" through a collective "national effort".

Currently, Saudi proxies in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq are facing a difficult situation on the ground. The ruling family is also suffering from reverberations, steaming from strained relations among its [royal family] members over power sharing and influence. More importantly what ails Saudi Arabia are growing concerns among the increasingly loud voices in America's corridors of power over Saudi Arabia's encroachment and actions in the region. Those voices have risen to include threats and intimidation.

While the ruling family plays on borrowed time, waiting for the outcome of the US presidential elections, Democratic candidate for the White House, Hillary Clinton - a day after the Orlando shooting - denounced the role of Saudi Arabia (Qatar and Kuwait) in the global funding of "ideological extremism". The former US Secretary of State said, "It is long past time for the Saudis, the Qataris and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organizations. And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path towards extremism."

While some in Saudi Arabia are betting that the controversial Republican candidate Donald Trump might make it to the White House, the latter questioned the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. While campaigning, Trump expressed concerns over the United States' relationship with Saudi Arabia: "We take care of Saudi Arabia. Now nobody's going to mess with Saudi Arabia because we're watching them. They're not paying us a fair price. We're losing our shirt."

In Iran, the recent Saudi move did not achieve the surprise the Saudis desired. The Iranians are expecting a lot from the Saudis, not just attending a festival or a provocation. They are aware that the West in general and the Americans and the British in particular would not miss the opportunity to target the Islamic Republic. They put Saudi Arabia in the same basket as the Americans. Iranian observers regard the "Mojahedin-e-Khalq" conference as a "rhetorical festival mobilized politically and through the media, but the Saudi attendance completely ruined it."

The inconsistency and lack of political and moral legitimacy that the Saudis put upon the "Mojahedin-e-Khalq" conference relieved the Iranians. The Iranians reply to those asking about what happened [at the Paris conference] with a question of their own: Does international public opinion and Iranian public opinion believe that Saudi Arabia supports a righteous revolution on this planet?

Away from the usual Iranian calm, there are some in Iran who hold Saudi Arabia responsible for the assassinations of Iranian scientists and officials carried out by the "Mojahedin-e-Khalq". They also hold the Saudis responsible for any disruption of security on Iranian territory, linking it to Turki al-Faisal's encouragement of the "Mojahedin-e-Khalq" organization to continue with the assassinations. Al-Faisal announced his support for these operations, describing them as "Iranian resistance", and repeated: "I also want to overthrow the regime."

The secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohsen Rezaee, spoke for the overwhelming majority of the Iranian people. On his personal account on "Instagram", Mohsen Rezaee wrote: "(..)Our message to Al-Saud, from this day on, we don't get angry quickly, but if we get angry we will erase the al-Saud from existence (..)."

Source: al-Ahed News