Saudi King Blasts Iran for ‘Naked Aggression’

Says Arab world must stand firm against Iran

Speaking on Thursday at an emergency Arab summit, Saudi King Salman claimed that his nation and others in the Arab world had failed to stand firm against Iran, and that the result had been “naked aggression” by the Iranians.

The king mostly tried to echo the narrative of US hawks on Iran, trying to attribute things like recent drone attacks that came from Yemen to the Iranian government, trying to present the Saudis as minding their own business and the Iranians threatening international security. Salman then called for the Arab world to confront Iran “with all means of force and firmness.”

Despite this attempted narrative from the king, the Saudis have been hostile toward Iran for several decades, and his own son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been driving pushes for US-led military action against Iran.

Indeed, the Saudis spend vastly more on their military than Iran ever has, and has been buying US arms for many years with the idea that they might be used in a major war with Iran. The king is just echoing the talking points of US hawks in suggesting otherwise.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.