BICOM

Iran and Saudi Arabia have exchanged threats as tensions rise between the two countries.

In an interview yesterday to Al-Manar TV, Iran’s Defence Minister General Hossein Dehghan issued a threat that in a conflict between the two countries nothing would be “left in Saudi Arabia except Mecca and Medina,” the two holy cities.

The Defence Minister went on to criticise Saudi Arabia’s close relationship with the US as going against “the interests of Muslim nations”, and accused the country of seeking to “please” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to provoke Israeli action against Iran. He was responding to comments made by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Last week the Deputy Crown Prince said in an interview that there was no space for dialogue with Iran due to its Shiite ambitions “to control the Islamic world”, and that Saudi Arabia would not wait for war, but “work so that it becomes a battle for them in Iran and not in Saudi Arabia”.

This exchange comes at a time of high tensions between the two countries, as Iran and Saudi Arabia oppose each other in a number of proxy wars across the Middle East.

In Syria, the Saudis have been arming and supplying rebel Sunni groups, whilst Iran supports the Assad regime. In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition of mostly Arab states has been fighting the Iran-backed Houthis.

Last year the countries broke off diplomatic relations after Saudi Arabia executed a leading Shiite cleric in the kingdom; in response the Saudi Embassy in Iran was overrun by protesters.

President Trump will visit Saudi Arabia later this month during his Middle East tour, which includes a visit to Israel.