At the early beginning of this week, Riyadh hosted three important summits; the Saudi-American, the Gulf-American, and the Arab Islamic-American summits between the US president and the Islamic Countries’ Leaders.
Iran was the center point of the speeches of both the Saudi King Salman Ibn Abdulaziz and the US president Donald Trump, which also took part in the final statement of the Arab Islamic American summit.
The question that arises here, why did Saudi Arabia escalate its war of words against Tehran over the past three months? The answer can be found in the speech of King Salman Ibn Abdulaziz when he said, “The Iranian regime is almost like it has a personality and thought our patience as weakness and our wisdom as downturn until we are fed up of its hostile practices and intervention in Yemen and in other regional countries. We say this and at the same time have respect for the Iranian people because we cannot blame people for the guilt of their regime.”
Over the past few years, Iran was in a state of exultation and a big appetite for intervention in the internal affairs of the Arab countries driven by the free of charge appetizers offered by former US President Barak Obama over his eight years in office. But, as drug overdose is fatal, the Obama dose to Iran peaked after the nuclear deal with the P5+1 group. The Obama appetizers encouraged Iran to go too far in its hostilities, which compelled the regional countries headed by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to stop the Iranian greed and launch the decisive storm and hope restoration operation two years ago. However, the Iranian regime continued its offenses and further supported the terrorist militias.
The new US administration adopted new strategies toward the Iranian practices and extremism in the region. The US President Donald Trump was determined to make peace in the Middle East through the American partnership with Arabs and Non-Arabs when he said in the Summit in Riyadh on Sunday, “The elimination of this threat is unquestionable without referring to the government that provides safe heaven for terrorists, financial support, and the social status for enlistment. This regime is behind the regional instability; I mean Iran. This government talks openly about mass killing and is dedicated to the destruction of Israel, death to America, and the destruction of many leaders and countries in this hall. From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen Iran funds, arms, and trains terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. For decades, Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflicts and terrorism.”
Trump also focused on Iran in his visit to Israel on Monday when he said, “We have a great opportunity to bring security and stability and make peace across the region by defeating terrorism and planning for a more prosperous, consistent, and peaceful future. This can be achieved only through cooperation and working together; there is no other way.”
Trump made it clear that he would constitute partnership with the three divine religions; Saudi Arabia represents Islam, Israel represents Judaism, and Vatican represents Christianity to counter terrorism, defeat it, and dry up its sources both materialistic and intellectual.
Riyadh adopted a clear and up to the point language to confront the Iranian hostility, starting with the latest TV interview of his Royal Highness Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman when he talked about the nature of the conflict with Iran. HRH said that Iran has adopted destructive and caustic ideologies in its foreign policy and expansionism to pave the way for the coming back of the expected one “Al-Mahdi” or what is being called in the Iranian literatures the “Absent Imam”.
As a complement to the clear and frank language and apparent position of the Saudi leadership against the Iranian expansionist project, in addition to Riyadh’s position against terrorism and sectarianism in the region, and the necessity to join the Arabian, Islamic, and International efforts to eliminate these two threats, the Saudi American, Gulf American, and Arab Islamic American summits concluded the necessity to confront the Iranian hostility, corner it, and punish Tehran for breaking Vienna declaration for protecting diplomatic missions. The summits also stressed on the necessity to stop the Iranian arms and financial support to the terrorist militias and decided to form a military force that comprises 34 thousand individuals under the name, “Reserve Forces of the Islamic Military Coalition” by the year 2018.
In its discourse, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was abundantly clear and transparent and has pinpointed the problem in the relation with Tehran. Riyadh has given Iran the choice; if it guarantees lasting peaceful co-existence with its Arab neighbors, it has to renounce its expansionist projects and the subversive groups because the imperialist ambitions would never come true, the sectarian calls will never be accepted, and supporting and promoting of terrorism is a red line that cannot be tolerated.
Translated Material: Watan SA
Opinions in this article reflect the writer’s point of view, not necessarily the view of The Arabain GCIS
