JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia's stand on Iran is not necessarily aligned with the policy of the United States irrespective of the political dispensation, and this is the cardinal mistake what most of the commentators make, said Mohammed Khalid Al-Yahya, an expert on the Middle East and editor in chief of Al Arabiya English. Al-Yahya was speaking during a webinar organized by Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and co-sponsored by Managing the Atom, the Iran Working Group and the Middle East Initiative. "Saudi Arabia has always been supportive of peaceful methods to persuade or force Iran to change its course and desist from backing militias in the neighboring countries with the sole purpose of destabilizing them," Al-Yahya said. Explaining the complicated Saudi-Iranian ties, Al-Yahya said: "If you go to Riyadh and ask what is their biggest national security threat, invariably you would hear Iran. However, if you were to go to Iran to ask them what is their biggest national security threat is they would say the US or Israel, or both ... So primarily it's a conflict between the US and Iran." However, it is true that the Kingdom is on board with the US President Donald Trump's administration of maximum pressure campaign, which has derailed the Iranian expansionist agenda. With the US dollars needed to fund militias in Iraq and other countries drying up as a result of crippling US sanctions, Iranian nefarious operations are grinding to a halt, especially in Iraq, Al-Yahya added. The US strategy is working. It's not perfect, but it's working," he said. "What we're seeing right now is the maximum pressure campaign putting Iran in a corner scrambling for resources." Taking a dig at Obama administration that fell hook, line and sinker for Iranian deceptive and deceitful peace gestures, Al-Yahya said the Iranian nuclear deal provided the clerical regime a much-needed boost to expand its destabilizing agenda in the neighboring countries including Yemen, which it used as a launching pad for attacks on Saudi Arabia. Recalling the talks that led to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (Iran nuclear deal), Al-Yahya said: "Every country within range of Iran's ballistic missiles, long range or short, or that contains militias, which are many in the region, wasn't included in the nuclear negotiations." "Those most at risk from Iranian aggression and expansionism were an afterthought of the discussions," he added. "Since the deal, Iran stepped up its activities across the region, doubled down on ethnic cleansing and genocide in Syria ... and empowered Hezbollah." Commenting on the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Al-Yahya said it has dealt a deadly blow to Iran's proxy machine, which will need time to recover. — SG
