Zero Hedge: It's On: Saudi Arabia Severs Diplomatic Ties With Iran, "Does Not Care" If It Has Angered White House
Earlier today, as Iranian police struggled to disperse protesters gathered outside the Saudi consulate in Mashhad, we said the following about the rapidly deteriorating situation:
If crude needed an excuse to rally, then surely this is it as it now appears that in addition to the fact that Riyadh and Tehran are squaring off in Syria (where Iran is present and the Saudis fight by proxy) and Yemen (where the Saudis are present and the Iranians fight by proxy), the two countries are on the verge of a historic diplomatic crisis which has the potential to stoke sectarian violence across the Muslim world.
Well sure enough, just hours later, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Ahmad Al-Jubeir announced that Riyadh has cut diplomatic ties with Tehran. The Saudis have demanded the Iran mission leave the country within 48 hours.
Jubeir said the attack in Tehran was in line with what he said were earlier Iranian assaults on foreign embassies there and with Iranian policies of destabilizing the region by creating "terrorist cells" in Saudi Arabia.
Update #1: Saudi Arabia "Doesn't Care" If White House Angered As US Urges 'Ally' To Ease Tensions (Zero Hedge)
Update #2: U.S. tries to calm Saudi-Iranian tensions (Politico)
WNU Editor: I thought that I would never see the day when U.S. - Saudi relations would hit this low .... but it has. This is going to get worse .... especially in the next few weeks/months .... and my prediction is that we will soon be seeing a dramatic escalation in the proxy wars that are now gripping the region. To put it bluntly .... the Sunni - Shiite sectarian conflict is now on the verge of exploding into a religious conflict of the like that we have not seen in centuries.
Update: What is also distressing is that there is no mediator and/or neutral party that can get involved to lessen tensions and animosities. Saudi Arabia and Iran do not trust the U.S. and the West, and even Turkey has taken sides that discounts it as a mediator.
6 comments:
WNU,
There's lots more to come. The Saudi's think they have an ace in the hole to do the what they've been doing for the last 4 months and the Irani's think they have one with the US wanting to keep the nuke deal so badly. Popcorn time!
Where's the evidence that U.S. - Saudi relations have hit a low? There is none. The US policy will stay the same: Saudi good, Iran bad.
WNU Editor,
The US Saudi relationship didn't even blink after 9/11, didn't blink when the Saudi's paid the Sunni Insurgency "bonus's" for every successful IED attack, or continuing to fund the Taliban, LEK and dozens of other terrorist groups,
So why would it change now?
One could even argue that there was an American "green light" for this execution, which was only a slight distraction from the day-to-day US targeting of hospitals etc. in Yemen for Saudi bombers.
Jay .... good question. I cannot pin-point it .... but the tone is totally different now. Before .... U.S. and Saudi diplomats were always talking/discussing/arguing/joking .... I saw it all the time when I was working at the UN. But today .... I just do not see it any-more (at least in the media), and my friends who are still working at the UN (and elsewhere) tell me that when they see U.S. - Saudi diplomats talk .... the camaraderie is no longer there. I bringing this up right now because a friend of mine who works in the FO in Moscow told me today that this U.S. - Saudi relationship started to unravel after the Iranian deal. That for the Saudis .... this was their red line being crossed. If true .... it would then explain a lot on what has happened this year.
In other words, WNU Editor,
Back then, while the American's might have been "pissed off", KSA was too important for their plans in the ME, for them to show it or take any action,
Now that it's the KSA that's "pissed off", as with Israel, the US just has to bend over and take it.
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