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.
Saudi King Blasts Iran for ‘Naked Aggression’
Says Arab world must stand firm against Iran
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.
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