The war of words between oil-rich Iran and Saudi Arabia is escalating dangerously following Riyadh's military intervention in Bahrain, where a security crackdown against pro-democracy dissidents shows no signs of abating.
On Monday, Major-General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, bluntly warned Saudi Arabia that its intervention in Bahrain could boomerang. “The presence and attitude of Saudi Arabia [in Bahrain] sets an incorrect precedence for similar future events, and Saudi Arabia should consider this fact that one day the very same event may recur in Saudi Arabia itself and Saudi Arabia may come under invasion for the very same excuse,” General Safavi asserted. Chairman of Iran's Joint Chiefs of Staff Major-General Hassan Firouzabadi reinforced the warning on Tuesday by calling the movement of Saudi Arabian troops into Bahrain, “as a blunder committed by the Saudi government”.
The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted him as saying that Saudi Arabia “has actually dealt a blow on its security and has to pay its consequences”.
Embassy attacked
Earlier, Prince Turki bin Mohammad, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Foreign Minister threatened to pull out his country's diplomats from Iran unless Tehran improved their security cover. “I hope we won't be obliged to withdraw our diplomatic mission from Tehran if Iran fails to take the necessary measures to protect it,” he said, after protesting students last Monday hurled flaming Molotov cocktails at the Embassy building.
Around 1,000 Saudi troops last month moved into Bahrain at the invitation of the Bahraini government. They are part of a force belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes 500 personnel from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait. Within hours of their arrival, Bahraini forces launched a fierce crackdown at the Pearl Roundabout, where thousands of protesters demanding political reforms had encamped.
In a statement on Monday, Amnesty International quoting local human rights group said that since March, Bahraini authorities have detained 499 people “including opposition and human rights activists, teachers, doctors and nurses, for their participation in the February and March protests calling for far-reaching political and other reform in Bahrain”. It added that the whereabouts of the great majority of detainees remain unknown. If prosecuted, the detainees “may face unfair trials before the National Safety Court of First Instance and a National Safety Appeal Court”. These courts were established after the King of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, declared emergency in the Kingdom on March 15.
Bahraini authorities, citing an “external” security threat — a veiled reference to Iran — to the Kingdom, have stressed that an early departure of Saudi troops from Bahrain was unlikely. “There is an external threat on the whole Gulf,” Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa told reporters in Dubai on Monday on the sidelines of an anti-piracy conference. Separately, Bahrain's Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, who has just returned to Manama after a brief visit of Saudi Arabia, cited the anti-government protests as a “coup attempt”. During his visit to Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom's monarch, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, stressed that the “security of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia is indivisible — being two bodies with one soul,” the state-run Bahrain News Agency said.
Keywords: Iran, Saudi Arabia, rift, Bahrain, international ties, military intervention
I'm an American guy with an interest in history of all kinds. Firstly, I would respectfully point out that Iran has armed military forces in foreign countries (Syria, Lebanon, Gaza), which Saudi Arabia has not done. Secondly, Iran has made it clear that it wishes to be the dominant power in the Middle East, which is cause for concern for any Sunni Muslim country. Thirdly, When Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain to help supress the Shiite uprising there, it didn't do so because it was afraid of Bahraini Shiites--it took this action because many Bahraini Shiites were supporters of Iran, and quite possibly its agents. If Iran feels otherwise, let it ask Saudi Arabia to change its behavior, while promising to abstain from interference in Bahraini and Saudi affairs.
The most important and vital event which is often not mentioned by world newspapers before :
"Around 1,000 Saudi troops last month moved into Bahrain at the invitation of the Bahraini government."
Is the fact that a splinter group of the extremists from the Roundabout went on a carefully coordinated plan of rioting, blocking, vandalizing , attacking & killing expats in 4 major centres around the island, at the same time. The Financial District, the National Hospital, The main University and the Capital City. All places far apart to put Police forces under pressure. As a resident here, I want the world to see the pre-requisites.
Every nation has the right to protect its citizens and public utilities and call a State of Emergency. Has it not happened in India or the US in the last 10 years? It has.
With Damage comes accountability.
It is surprising that a respected and senior Jouurnalist like Atul Aneja has omitted the real cause of the rift between Iran and Saudi Arabia (both of which claim to be 'true' Islamic' nations)...the reason why Iran is angry is becuase Saudi Forces essentially helped Bahrain supress the Shia population of Bahrain who wanted to overthrow the Sunni rulers of Bahrain. While 'The Hindu' has no qualms mentioning caste or even sub-caste in the context of Indians, why is it afraid to mention the Shia-Sunni rift when it is required in the context of an important news?
Iranian Shiites should stop living in the past and respect Human rights. Stoning people to death because they are gay, or had sexual relations with another person not their spouse is both barbaric and immoral.
A genuine expression of frustration and a demand for change from a historically disenfranchised and exploited Shia majority is 'a coup attempt'? Sure, anything to keep the applecart going!
Saudi Wahbis should stop living in the past and respect Humans rights.
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