Iran has accused Saudi Arabia of strengthening ISIS and orchestrating hostilities in Yemen as tensions between the two nations continue to simmer.
A war of words between the two nations has gone up another level since Saturday, when Riyadh intercepted a ballistic missile over one of its biggest airports on the same day Lebanon’s prime minister announced his shock resignation while on a visit to Saudi Arabia.
President Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, hit back at a barb by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who accused his nation of ‘direct military aggression’ by supplying militias in Yemen with rockets.
Rouhani said: ‘Why are you showing hostility towards the people of Syria and Iraq? Why are you strengthening ISIS and leaving the peoples of the region with them? Why are you interfering with Lebanon’s internal affairs and governance?’
President Hassan Rouhani (pictured) warned Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that it will achieve nothing by threatening the might of Iran
The Iranian leader claimed that Saudi Arabia’s hostility towards Yemen was playing into the hands of ISIS.
Riyadh accused Tehran of supplying Houthi rebels in Yemen with missiles, something which has been vehemently denied by Rouhani’s government.
The political mud-slinging centres around two key incidents – the missiles and the resignation of Lebanon’s prime minister.
The aftermath of the stunning resignation sparked speculation he was forced to quit by Saudi Arabia in order to wreck his ties with Iran.
Saad Hariri declared his surprise resignation on Saturday – the same day as the missile interception – from Riyadh which fuelled beliefs he was coerced into standing down against his will.
Stunned Lebanese are convinced Saudi Arabia, Hariri’s longtime ally, forced out to effectively wreck the prime minister’s delicate compromise government with Saudi nemesis – and Iran ally – the Hezbollah militant group.
His resignation has thrust Lebanon back onto the front line of the Middle East’s most biting rivalry, pitting a mostly Sunni bloc led by Saudi Arabia and including the UAE against Shiite Iran and its allies.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, on October 24, 2017
Rouhani told his cabinet on Wednesday: ‘There is no case in history that a country forces another one’s authority to resign only to interfere with their internal affairs. This is an unprecedented event in history. Where are you going in this way?,’ according to The Guardian.
His comments were mirrored by Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah who also claimed Hariri’s resignation was ‘a Saudi decision’.
Yesterday Iran warned Saudi Arabia they face the might of the Islamic republic if they continue to make war threats.
President Hassan Rouhani warned Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that it will achieve nothing by threatening the might of Iran, as a war of words between the regional heavyweights intensifies.
He also boasted Donald Trump had ‘mobilised all their allies and achieved nothing’ in a barb at the US.
‘You know the might and place of the Islamic republic. People more powerful than you have been unable to do anything against the Iranian people,’ Rouhani said.
‘The United States and their allies have mobilised all their capabilities against us and achieved nothing.’
Rouhani appeared to be alluding to the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, in which revolutionary Iran successfully resisted an invasion by Saddam Hussein’s regime supported by Gulf Arab and Western governments.
President Hassan Rouhani warned Donald Trump had ‘mobilised all their allies and achieved nothing’ in a barb at the US
His comments came after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accused Iran of delivering missiles to Yemeni rebels for use against targets in the kingdom that he described as ‘direct military aggression.’
Iran strongly denied supplying any missiles to the rebels saying that it would have been impossible to do so in any case in the face of a Saudi-led air and sea blockade.
Rouhani reiterated that Iran wanted a peaceful settlement of the conflict between the rebels and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and of other wars around the region that have placed it at loggerheads with Riyadh.
‘We want the welfare and development of Yemen, Iraq and Syria, and of Saudi Arabia too. There are no other paths forward than friendship, brotherhood and mutual assistance,’ he said.
‘If you think that Iran is not your friend and that the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel) are, you are making a strategic and analytical error.’
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia moved a step closer to a war withIran by accusing the country again of ‘direct military aggression’ by supplying militias with rockets.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made the accusation Tuesday, referring to Iran handing ballistic missiles to Yemen’s Huthi rebels, state media reported.
But Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels hit back with threats of retaliation against the ports and airports of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which this week closed the Yemeni land, sea and air borders.
All airports, ports, border crossings and areas of any importance to Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be a direct target of our weapons, which is a legitimate right,’ read a statement released by the rebels’ political office.
Tensions have been rising between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and predominantly Shiite Iran, which are locked in conflicts across the Middle East, from Yemen and Syria to Qatar and Lebanon.
The crisis escalated on Saturday when the kingdom intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile near Riyadh’s international airport.
Saudi border guards keep watch along the border with Yemen in the al-Khubah area in the southern Jizan province
The Huthi’s statement comes the day after the coalition announced it had closed all of Yemen’s borders, after the missile attach which the Huthis have claimed.
The United Nations on Monday reported the Saudi-led coalition had prevented two humanitarian aid flights from flying to the war-torn country.
Prince Mohammed said: ‘The involvement of Iran in supplying missiles to the Huthis is a direct military aggression by the Iranian regime,’ the Saudi Press Agency quoted the crown prince as saying during a telephone conversation with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
This ‘could be considered as an act of war,’ Prince Mohammed said.
Saudi forces on Saturday intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile near Riyadh international airport, reportedly fired from Yemen by the Huthi rebels.
It was the first reported Huthi missile launch to reach Riyadh and threaten air traffic, underscoring the growing threat posed by the conflict on Saudi Arabia’s southern border.
Riyadh accused Tehran of supplying ballistic missiles to the Huthi rebels, but Iran denied the allegation.
Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir also warned Tehran: ‘Iranian interventions in the region are detrimental to the security of neighbouring countries and affect international peace and security.
‘We will not allow any infringement on our national security.’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif issued dismissive tweets over the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in response.
He wrote: ‘KSA bombs Yemen to smithereens, killing 1000s of innocents including babies, spreads cholera and famine, but of course blames Iran.
Yesterday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir (pictured) also warned Tehran will ‘not allow any infringement on national security’
‘KSA is engaged in wars of aggression, regional bullying, destabilising behaviour & risky provocations. It blames Iran for the consequences.’
Saudi forces on Saturday intercepted and destroyed the ballistic missile near Riyadh’s international airport after it was reportedly fired by Shiite Huthi rebels from Yemen.
It was the first attempted missile strike by the rebels to reach Riyadh and threaten air traffic, underscoring the growing threat posed by the conflict on Saudi Arabia’s southern border.
The coalition sealed off air, sea and land borders in Yemen where it has been battling rebels in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s internationally recognised government since 2015.
An Iranian foreign ministry statement quoted spokesman Bahram Ghassemi as saying the accusations by the coalition were ‘unjust, irresponsible, destructive and provocative’.
Ghassemi said the missile was fired by the Huthis in response ‘to war crimes and several years of aggression by the Saudis’.
The crisis between Saudi Arabia and Iran escalated on Saturday when the kingdom intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile near Riyadh’s international airport (pictured)
The Saudi royal family arrests: Those detained Saudi’s anti-corruption purge include Prince Miteb, Prince Turki and Prince Alwaleed (circled in red)
The missile attack, he said, was ‘an independent action in response to this aggression,’ and Iran had nothing to do with it.
Critics have accused the coalition of not doing enough to prevent civilian deaths in its air war in Yemen, where more than 8,650 people have been killed since the intervention began.
Repeated attempts to bring about a negotiated settlement to the conflict have failed, including a series of UN-backed peace talks.
Saudi Arabia has blamed the Huthis for the failed efforts, and on Monday offered rewards totalling $440 million for information on 40 senior officials among the rebels.
Topping the list, with a $30-million reward for tips leading to his capture, was the group’s leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi.
The Huthis, allied with Yemen’s ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh in the conflict, have captured the capital Sanaa, forcing Hadi’s government to operate from the southern city of Aden.
Saudi Arabia and Iran’s cold war: How it’s fought with proxies seeded across the Middle East
The Islamic State’s dream of a Middle East caliphate may be over, but Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite powerhouse Iran continue to worsen conflicts across the region as they battle to reign supreme.
Here MailOnline looks at some of the key countries where their hands are wreaking havoc because of different political and religious opinions…
LEBANON
The resignation of Lebanon’s Saudi-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri has thrust Lebanon back onto the front line of the Middle East’s most biting rivalry, pitting a mostly Sunni bloc led by Saudi Arabia and including the UAE against Shiite Iran and its allies.
Hariri, a Sunni Muslim leader, had faced the seemingly impossible task of presiding over a government under the control of Iran-backed Hezbollah. The Shiite militant party is accused of killing his father, Rafik, in 2005 and in his resignation speech on Saturday he suggested he now fears for his own life.
Hezbollah supporters carry a poster of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah during a Hezbollah ‘victory over Israel’ rally, in Beirut’s suburbs, Friday, 22 September 2006
But he was known to tow the Saudi line and his shock resignation suggests Saudi Arabia may have a new plan of action for the country.
The kingdom had long backed the Sunnis in Lebanon’s multi-sectarian political system – and during the civil war – but on Monday it accused the tiny Arab country of declaring war against it because of aggression by Hezbollah.
The statement comes as the civil war in neighbouring Syria, where Hezbollah had been ensuring President Bashar Assad’s regime was not toppled by a pro-democracy movement, winds down.
Joseph Bahout, a visiting scholar in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, warned just last month that Saudi Arabia was seeking ways to compensate for the loss of Syria as a place where it could defy and bleed Iran. ‘A renewed desire to reverse their regional fortunes could lead them to try regaining a foothold in Lebanon,’ he wrote.
Hezbollah is returning its energy to Lebanon and Saudi Arabia only wants a leader in the country if it can withstand Hezbollah’s pressure.
It’s believed they did not see Hariri as the man for that job.
SYRIA
In Syria the civil war is not completely over but Iran and its allies are seen to have won the proxy war against Saudi-backed rebels.
Hezbollah and other fighters allied with Assad’s forces have recaptured large areas and are working to secure a much-prized land corridor stretching from Tehran to the Mediterranean through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Pro-government demonstrators hold posters depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and placards, during a rally in Damascus, in 2012
A Syrian man carries a baby after removing him from the rubble of a destroyed building following a reported air strike in the then rebel-held part of Aleppo in 2016
By contrast, Saudi Arabia has been stuck in a fruitless war in Yemen against Iranian-backed Shiite rebels, and a Saudi bid to isolate Qatar has failed to achieve its goals.
YEMEN
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, and his son Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), have this week made clear their intention to continue to fight against Iran in Yemen.
Riyadh and Tehran have been trading fierce accusations over their involvement in the country, where they back opposing sides.
In the latest flare-up Saudi Arabia said an intercepted missile attack on the country, allegedly by Tehran-backed rebels in Yemen, ‘may amount to an act of war’.
People walk at the site of an air strike in the northwestern city of Saada, Yemen, on November 1
MBS said on Tuesday that Iran’s decision to supply rockets to militias in Yemen constitutes a ‘direct military aggression’ against the kingdom.
Tehran in turn accused Riyadh of committing war crimes in Yemen, raising tensions further.
And Hezbollah and the Houthis, as Yemen’s Shiite rebels are known, have denied any role by the Lebanese group in the war in the Arabian Peninsula country.
ISRAEL
The resignation of Lebanon’s Hariri also has significant implications for Israel, Daniel Shapiro, President Obama’s Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, said in a column for Haaretz newspaper this week.
‘It is plausible that the Saudis are trying to create the context for a different means of contesting Iran in Lebanon: an Israeli-Hezbollah war,’ he wrote.
Shapiro suggests Saudi may have pulled Hariri out of his office to leave Hezbollah ‘with the blame and responsibility for… caring for Syrian refugees to mopping up Al Qaeda and ISIS affiliates’.
British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting in 10 Downing St, London, Thursday, November 2
This could lead Hezbollah to confront Israel as means of securing support from its people in Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia and Israel have become unlikely allies. Their common ground? Stopping nuclear Iran reigning supreme in the region.
For Israel, partnering with Saudi-Arabia to quash Hezbollah would be considered key to helping them deal with an old enemy.
QATAR
Saudi Arabia’s bid to isolate Qatar appears to have been fruitless.
Instead of bringing the world’s wealthiest nation back into its folds by forcing it into a diplomatic corner, Doha has forcefully rejected all Saudi demands.
Most importantly, Qatar has refused to curtail relations with Iran, with whom it shares the world’s largest reservoir of natural gas.
Iran and Turkey have helped Qatar survive amid Saudi and its Gulf allies suffocating sanctions and thus Tehran has scored another goal in the cold war dominating the political landscape in the Middle East.
NEW PROXY WARS ON THE HORIZON?
With all the above perceived losses against Iran that Saudi Arabia has felt in Syria and Qatar, it is no wonder that Riyadh’s patience over Hezbollah is running thin and Lebanon is in its sights.