Saudi Arabia in no position to lash out against Iran: Pundit

Saudi Arabia has opened war of words with Iran following a missile strike from neighboring Yemen which struck the capital Riyadh, threatening there will be a response "in the appropriate time and manner". Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman alleged that Iran was involved in supplying weapons to the Houthis, which he said “is a direct military aggression” by Iran against Saudi Arabia. However, Iran has dismissed the allegations as “baseless and unfounded”, while calling on the United Nations to pressure Riyadh to stop threatening other countries with the military action. Press TV has talked to Mohammad Marandi, professor at University of Tehran, as well as Fredrick Peterson, senior congressional defense advisor, to get their opinion on the issue.  

Marandi believes Saudi Arabia is in no position to “lash out” against Iran, adding that it does not have the capacity to do so.  

“The Saudis who have been beaten by host of adversaries – the Yemenis, the Syrians, the Iraqis and even Qatar has defeated the Saudis’ attempts to strangle the country – so Saudi Arabia is not a power that Iran is worried or concerned about,” he said.

He also highlighted the fact that Saudi Arabia’s threats against Iran constitute a violation of international law and the UN Charter.

Marandi further opined that Saudi Arabia should not complain about a single missile strike from Yemen given its nonstop bombardment of the impoverished Arab nation and the great suffering that it has inflicted upon the Yemenis for over the past two and a half years.

“So after slaughtering tens of thousands of people in Yemen and forcing hunger and starvation and cholera upon the people of Yemen, the Saudis really have nothing to complain about,” he stated.

The academic also emphasized that the Yemeni army has had Scud missiles for a very long time, arguing that it is not something very extraordinary to tinker with those missiles and give them the capacity to reach Riyadh.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Marandi asserted that Iran has played a positive role in fighting terrorism in the Middle East whereas the role of the United States and its regional ally Saudi Arabia has been one of destruction and spreading extremism.

He went on to say that Iran and its allies have supported the legitimate governments in Syria and Iraq against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist who were funded by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

“So there is no reason to blame Iran but there are more than enough reasons to blame the United States and its allies for the destruction of so much of this region,” he said in conclusion.  

Meanwhile, Fredrick Peterson, the other panelist on the program, noted when a missile hits a capital city, the origin of that missile is “a matter of grave concern”.

Therefore, he said, for the Saudis to have reacted against that attack on their capital is no less expected than any other people would react to a missile attack coming into any other city within their jurisdiction.

The analyst also contended that the competition for regional hegemony in an area that is increasingly devolving into chaos “is a very dangerous game”, adding that the result is going to be more proxy wars supported by outside players–namely the United States, Israel and Russia.

He further suggested that there needs to be dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Iran in order to come to a resolution before the situation spins out of control, emphasizing that this is a “multidimensional conflict” which would have dire consequences for all sides.   

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