Washington: The war of words between regional nemeses
Iran and Saudi Arabia has taken a curious, if not outrageous, turn.
Much to the ire of Tehran, the Saudi military conducted
live-fire naval exercises in the Persian Gulf, which borders the two countries,
and along the Strait of Hormuz. A statement from the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard naval forces said that "this war game is mainly to create tension
and destabilise the Persian Gulf" and warned Saudi vessels against
straying into Iranian territorial waters.
The Saudis countered that the operation, known as Gulf
Shield One, was aimed at improving combat readiness and protecting "the
marine interests of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against any possible
aggression." The subtext, as ever with these two Middle East rivals, is
clear.
But then Qassem Soleimani, a senior Revolutionary Guard
general, waded into the rhetorical battle. Soleimani is the shadowy commander
of the Quds force, Iran's paramilitary unit that engages in its proxy wars
elsewhere.
At a mourning ceremony on Wednesday for an Iranian
officer killed in Syria - where Saudi and Iranian proxies are on opposite ends
of a conflict - Soleimani reportedly singled out Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the youthful, ambitious son of King Salman bin
Abdulaziz who many assume is the heir apparent.
Soleimani claimed that the prince "is very
impatient and might kill his king" and also suggested that the Saudis are
backing rebel factions in Syria only to undermine Iran's influence. The Syrian
regime of President Bashar al-Assad is a longstanding Tehran ally.
There's no evidence to suggest to such a provocative
allegation is true, though Mohammed bin Salman's ascension has been surrounded
by a great deal of palace intrigue, including the grumbling protestations of
royals angry about the prince skipping the lines of succession.
Tensions between the Middle East's leading Shia and
Sunni powers have deepened since the young prince's rise, with experts
suggesting that he is championing a more aggressive policy toward Iran.
Formal diplomatic ties were severed earlier this year
after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi offices in the country, following the
January execution of a leading Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia. Iranian pilgrims
were officially barred by Saudi Arabia from attending the recent annual
pilgrimage to Mecca. Leading religious figures on both sides accused the other
of betraying Islam.
Iran's foreign minister even published an op-ed in the
New York Times, singling out Saudi Arabia as the incubator of the dangerous
ideologies that animate fundamentalist Sunni terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and
the Islamic State.
The Saudis, meanwhile, combat Iranian proxies in a range
of conflicts through the region, which has led to their protracted involvement
in a disastrous 19-month-old war in Yemen. The Iranians also accuse the Saudis
of fomenting trouble and see Riyadh's hand behind the resumption of a Kurdish
insurgency in Iran's northwest.
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