"... Iran's enmity toward Saudi Arabia has a more immediate strategic reasoning. Not foregoing memories of Saudi support for Iraq during the latter's invasion of Iran, Tehran's main annoyance stems from the belief that Saudi Arabia is covertly cooperating with its enemies on three fronts: cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on the abduction of an Iranian nuclear scientist, coordination with Israel on a potential "surgical strike" against Iran's nuclear facility, and ideological-material support for Iran's main domestic terrorist group, the Jundallah.....
Additionally, in an attempt to further isolate Iran, Saudi Arabia was reported to have provided energy counter-offers to Iran's major partners such as China...., Iran accused Saudi Arabia of cooperating with the CIA in the 2009 abduction of the Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri in Mecca. Upon his return from the US, Amiri said that he was "kidnapped with the help of Saudis".
Currently, the Jundallah insurgency is one of Iran's main domestic national security considerations. In October 2009, 28 people were killed, along with high-ranking members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), in a suicide attack conducted by Jundallah. This event associated Saudi Arabia again with another major national security concern for Iran.
In November 2009, Kuwaiti Daily al-Watan published the text of a letter by Abdulmalik Rigi (the Jundallah leader) to King Abdullah, asking the king to lend "more support" to the group. This was followed by another suicide attack in July, claiming the lives of many, including IRGC members. Both attacks were staged in retaliation for Iran's execution of Rigi brothers (the organization's leaders).....
In late June 2010, Iran was again a central topic of discussions when King Abdullah met President Barack Obama in the White House. The two leaders talked about plans to curb Iran's nuclear program, and possibly strengthen the Kingdom's defensive position vis-a-vis Iran by a potential agreement on the purchase of 72 F-15 Eagle tactical fighters.
Tensions have been so high in the region in recent years that the 2010 Islamic Solidarity Games (supposedly hosted by Iran) were canceled due to the differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia on the issue of putting the label of "Persian Gulf" on the medals.
Growing tensions over Iran's nuclear program, the elimination of Iraq as the main regional counter-weight, and the Islamic Republic's expanding influence in the Middle East will continue to guide Saudi Arabia's calculations with respect to its relations with Iran...."
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
".... Iran's enmity toward Saudi Arabia has a more immediate strategic reasoning ..."
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One can add to the list of cooperation between CIA and Riyadh vis a vis Tehran the Agency's complicity in Saudi Arabia's transition from the kingdom's aging CSS-2 ballistic missile arsenal to the nuclear capable CSS-5 during the Bush-Cheney years. Consider it the polar opposite of Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld's clumsy attempt to justify the invasion of Iraq with tales of aluminum tubes and uranium yellow cake. The subject of my recently published book, "Patriot Lost", it's a sad state of affairs there at CIA Headquarters when the intelligence spigot can be turned on and off at will to accomodate whatever policy agenda prevails from one administration to the next. "Speaking truth to power" was sadly not a core value at CIA during the reign of Dick Cheney. More like "speak when spoken to"--and even then, best not to be overly concerned with the truth.
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