The world should be anxious about an open conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia, a former advisor to the Saudi Arabian royal family has told Al Jazeera. Saudi Arabia, a Sunni power, responded by cutting diplomatic ties with Iran and rallying its regional allies to do the same.
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While Saudi Arabia “rules a country that wants to preserve the status quo in the Middle East”, Iran’s leaders “want to export their revolution to Arab countries and thus seek to destabilize the region through subversion and propaganda as well as military and economic assistance to Shiite militias in Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon”, he alleged.
Kerry also emphasized the merits of diplomacy just days after his own frantic series of phone calls with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif helped secure the release of 10 U.S. Navy sailors detained by Iran on a Gulf island.
“If that’s the choice they leave us, we’re going to do what’s necessary”, he adds. They say the nuclear deal that they opposed is preventing Obama from dealing assertively with Iran, because he is more concerned with protecting his signature foreign policy achievement. Saudi Arabia and Iran already are backing opposing sides in Syria and refusing to cooperate against the Islamic State.
Saudi Arabia has taken part in effort to create a Syrian peace deal, and has coordinated opposition and rebel groups to create a team which will attend the talks in Geneva.
“It should strengthen our resolve to work effectively together to combat the scourge of terrorism”, al-Jubeir said.
Li Shaoxian, vice president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a government think-tank, said China had to step up to the plate in the Middle East, but stressed China’s role would be different from other superpowers.
The diplomats also condemned Thursday’s attacks in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
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“There is nothing in any act of terror that offers anything but death and destruction”, he said.
