Iran accuses Saudis of ‘treason,’ ‘cooperating’ with Israel

The Iranian supreme leader reiterated his support for Palestinians, his hatred of America and Israel, and his anger with Saudi Arabia for ostensibly helping Israel.

By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei again demanded the destruction of “the Zionist entity,” addressing a meeting of representatives from Muslim-majority countries in Tehran on Tuesday. He also reiterated his usual condemnation of the United States as a supporter of the Jewish state. However, this time the supreme leader added an Arab country to his list of denunciations: Saudi Arabia, accusing it of nothing less than treason against the entire Muslim world.

“Governments that help the United States and cooperate with the Zionist regime to fight Muslim brothers are committing treason, like what the Saudis are doing,” he said.

The impetus for these remarks include recent reports of growing ties between Israel and the Saudi kingdom. Although the Saudis have consistently denied having any relations with Israel, there have been signs of rapprochement between the countries.

Israeli ministers have talked of having quiet contacts in the kingdom, and in September, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was reported to have made a secret visit to Israel. An interview with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot was also published in November in the Saudi Elaph newspaper, which could not have occurred without the government’s knowledge.

Considering Iran’s utter rejection of a Jewish state in the Muslim world, Israel and the Saudis share – even if temporarily – a confluence of interests. It is not a secret that Sunni Saudi Arabia views Shiite Iran’s push for hegemony in the Middle East with more than alarm. The two countries have been fighting what is in essence a proxy war for several years already, supporting opposing sides in both Yemen and Syria.

In the latter case, since the Iran-supported Hezbollah organization has sent tens of thousands of troops to fight for the Assad regime, Saudi Arabia – like Israel – has declared Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization.

Iran and Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relation in 2016 following an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in the same year.