Saudi Arabia should be on the lookout for Iran’s new “shocking decision” if it does not stop support for U.S. sanctions against Tehran, says Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a former Iranian diplomat currently working as a special assistant to Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani.
Amir Abdollahian, who is widely known as the man who determines Iran’s foreign policy about the Arab world, did not elaborate on what he called “Tehran’s new and shocking decision.”
However, he added in a Twitter post that “Time is running out for the continuation of dirty Saudi – Emirati – Israeli policies,” and warned Saudi Arabia to stop supporting the United States’ “economic war” against Iran.
If #Saudi rulers do not stop aiding & abetting the #US in its economic war against #Iran, they must wait for its new & shocking decision. The clock is ticking so fast for the continuity of Saudi-#Emirati–#Israeli dirty policies. pic.twitter.com/8oSljzVBPT
— H.amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) June 4, 2019
The Rouhani administration removed Amir Abdollahian, a hardline former diplomat and the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Director-General for Arab and African affairs from his post in 2016, but since then, he has continued making radical comments and offering hardline policy options about the region.
His dismissal from the Foreign Ministry angered Iran’s hardline media which accused the Rouhani administration of having removed Amir Abdollahian from his post at the request of the Persian Gulf littoral states.
The hardline media also charged that Rouhani has weakened the “axis of resistance” in the region by removing Amir Abdollahian.
This is not the first time Amir Abdollahian makes radical comments about Saudi Arabia, but his new remarks came shortly after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and scores of Arab leaders pointed fingers at Iran accusing it of involvement in attacks on oil shipping in the region.
It is reasonable to say that when the government removed Amir Abdollahian, he was given his current advisory role as a way to isolate him but his views remain popular among hardliners and the Revolutionary Guard leadership. In that sense, his comment about Arab Gulf states probably reflects the desires of the hardliners.
Meanwhile, an Israeli state-run TV channel claimed that it was the Israeli secret service that informed the United States of Iran’s involvement in the four explosions in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.
Two UAE oil tankers, as well as a Norwegian and a Saudi vessel were damaged in the attacks.
Saudi Arabia which has vowed to boost its oil output to make up for the shortages resulting from the absence of Iran and Venezuela in the oil market, hosted three summits last week in Mecca, where tens of politicians and heads of states from Arab and Islamic countries condemned Iran for its “destabilizing intervention” in the region.
According to pro-reform Etemad newspaper, Iran’s president and foreign minister were invited to Mecca by the secretariats of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Organization f Islamic Conference (OIC) but the two officials refused to go to Saudi Arabia as King Salman who had extended invitations to all the leaders of OIC, GCC and Arab League, did not invite Rouhani and Zarif.
Etemad wrote in a commentary that the way the meetings in Mecca were planned, the contents of the speeches delivered and the meetings’ final statements showed that Saudi Arabia and some of its partners were mainly focused on attacking Iran.
The commentary noted that the statements released at the end of the Arab League and the GCC summits were totally focused on attacks on Iran and its allies, with “the most radical tone inconsistent with diplomatic standards.”
Cover photo: Iran’s former Deputy Foreign Minister-Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
