Iran has threatened Saudi Arabia with total military obliteration following a war of words between the two Middle-Eastern rivals over the weekend.
On Tuesday, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman slammed Iran for attempting to “dominate the Muslim world,” ruling out any possible future dialogue with Iranian leaders about Saudi’s oil policy.
“We know that we are a main goal for the Iranian regime,” he said. “We will not wait until the battle comes to Saudi Arabia but we will work to have the battle in Iran rather than in Saudi Arabia.”
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In response, Iran’s Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan hit back at the Saudi regime, claiming it would “destroy” the kingdom if the Saudi’s do anything “ignorant.”
Zerohedge.com reports: “If the Saudis do anything ignorant, we will leave no area untouched except Mecca and Medina,” Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying.
Taking a jab at the Saudi war in Yemen, the iranian said that “they think they can do something because they have an air force,” referring to Saudi attacks on Iran-aligned Houthi forces in control of the capital Sanaa.
Dehghan, speaking to Arabic-language Al-Manar TV, was commenting on remarks by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who said on Tuesday any contest for influence between the Sunni Muslim kingdom and the revolutionary Shi’ite theocracy ought to take place “inside Iran, not in Saudi Arabia”.
Was this just more “run off the mill” jawboning and theatrics, or a prelude to a more serious escalation between the two nations which periodically trade verbal barbs even if neither has been willing to test overt military action against its counerpart?
The answer will be revealed in the upcoming OPEC negotiation on production cut extensions, and specifically whether the Saudis will grant Iran – which has been steadily gaining market share at Saudis’ expense during 2017 – another waiver from participation in the mandatory output cuts.
Because when it comes to Saudi Arabia, while nationalistic verbal pyrotechnics are for popular consumption, when it comes to oil, and associated revenues – especially ahead of the critical Aramco IPO – nothing could be more serious.
Sean Adl-Tabatabai
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