Iran, Saudi Arabia: Love and Hate
Iran, Saudi Arabia: Love and Hate
The relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which are warming up again with the enthusiasm of the Islamic Republic’s officials but with many reservations, are not only affected by the attack on Saudi diplomatic sites in Tehran and Mashhad in 2015. The organized attack by those whom Ali Khamenei called ‘faithful youth’ stems from fundamental differences between the Iranian government and Saudi Arabia, dating back to the founding of the Islamic Republic as a system based on Shia ideology.
In these four decades, the leaders of the Islamic Republic have often pursued a policy of hatred against Saudi Arabia.
This famous statement by Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, clearly shows the extent of this hatred: ‘If we forgive Saddam, if we forget the issue of Jerusalem, if we forgive America’s crimes, we will not forgive Al Saud.’
In July 1988, Khomeini continued this statement, saying, ‘We will enter Masjid al-Haram with the celebration of the victory of truth over the forces of disbelief and hypocrisy and the liberation of the Kaaba from the hands of the unworthy and the unclean.’
After Khomeini, Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, also described the Saudi Arabian leaders as a ‘cursed and evil tree’ in 2016, in both his written message for the Hajj ceremony and his speech to the families of the pilgrims killed in the 2015 Mina incident, stating that they are not worthy of managing the two holy mosques.
The holiest site for Muslims worldwide is located in Saudi Arabia, and the tensions between Tehran and Riyadh have always affected the presence of Iranian pilgrims at the Hajj ceremony. The Islamic Republic has consistently tried to use the presence of these pilgrims in Saudi Arabia for its political propaganda.
However, in these four decades, the relations between the two countries have never been as dire as during the seven years when these relations were severed.
The extent of this severity, which has now softened relatively to the point of inviting Mohammed bin Salman to visit Tehran, can be understood by reviewing the statements of the leader of the Islamic Republic over these years.
The year 2015: A year of tension
Diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia were severed in January 2016 following the attack by a number of supporters of the Islamic Republic on Saudi diplomatic sites in Tehran and Mashhad. However, Khamenei had intensified his verbal attacks on Riyadh months before these incidents.
In April of the same year, a few days after Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Yemen began in support of this country’s legitimate government, he said, ‘The Saudis have set a bad precedent in this region and, of course, they made a mistake.’
While the Islamic Republic itself had begun its intervention in Yemen by supporting the Houthi militias years earlier, Khamenei described Riyadh’s military response as similar to the Zionists in Gaza. He promised his supporters that the Saudis would suffer losses in this matter, would incur damages, and would not win at all.
If they [Israel] could win in Gaza, then Saudi Arabia will also be able to win here in Yemen.
At this juncture, Khamenei acknowledged the multiple disagreements between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia on various political issues and claimed that a few inexperienced young people have taken control of that country, and they are letting the aspect of savagery prevail over the aspect of composure and pretense. This will end to their detriment.
The leader of the Islamic Republic used his usual insulting rhetoric against Saudi Arabia and said, ‘Certainly, the Saudis’ noses will be rubbed in the dirt.’
In July 2015, Khamenei once again referred to the Yemen war and targeted not only Saudi Arabia but also Western countries and the United Nations.
He said, ‘The liberal West, which means freedom-seeking and freedom-loving, didn’t even open its mouth, and a UN Security Council resolution was issued, which is one of the most disgraceful resolutions of the United Nations that will not be forgotten. Instead of condemning the bombers, it condemned the bombed. These are liberals; liberalism means this.’
He denied the Islamic Republic’s military intervention in Yemen and said, ‘Now they will create a fuss that Iran interfered in Yemen. Yes, this is interference, that we sit here and say a few words, this becomes interference, but the fact that their criminal planes have made Yemen’s skies unsafe, that is not interference.’
In August 2015, Khamenei claimed that the war in Yemen is a political war, not a religious war. They falsely say that it’s a Shia-Sunni issue, while it is not. Some of those who are losing children, women, infants, hospitals, and schools under Saudi bombardment in Yemen are Shafi’i, some are Zaydi. It’s not a Shia-Sunni issue; it’s a political dispute, a dispute of policies.
A year later, Khamenei made statements against Saudi Arabia regarding the management of the holy sites for Muslims. In September 2016, in a meeting with the families of the victims of the Mina incident, he said, ‘Those who have shown this incompetence and imposed this insecurity on the pilgrims of the Islamic world are truly not worthy of managing and serving the two holy mosques. This should be established in the Islamic world, this thought should be promoted.’
On Thursday, September 24, 2015, during the execution of part of the Hajj rituals in Mina, a large number of pilgrims from various nationalities were trampled to death. According to Saudi Arabian officials, 769 people died, and according to Reuters, at least 2,000. Khamenei intensified his tone and added, ‘This cursed and evil tree shuts mouths with money. These slaves of money and the world do not let anyone speak against them or protest.’
He said the Islamic world, including Muslim governments and nations, should recognize the Saudi rulers and correctly understand their insulting, faithless, dependent, and materialistic reality.
They should not let go of them for the crimes they have caused across the Islamic world.
For their oppressive behavior towards the guests of the Merciful, a fundamental thought should be given to the management of the two holy mosques and the issue of Hajj. Neglecting this duty will confront the future of the Islamic community with greater problems.
In the same year, 2016, Khamenei even considered Saudi Arabia as an example of a Quranic verse which states: ‘He strives to spread corruption on earth and destroy crops and progeny. Hell is sufficient for him, and what a bad resting place it is.’ A year later, Khamenei promised the destruction of Saudi Arabia.
He said, ‘Of course, these are doomed to be destroyed. When you look at the appearances, these appearances should not deceive anyone.’
These are transient; they are doomed to fall and be destroyed. There is no doubt about this.
This will certainly happen; both these and those they look up to will all fall.
In June 2017, Khamenei accused the Saudi Arabian leaders of being distant from the Quran and unfamiliar with Quranic truths. In 2018, he called Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy very foolish, which provokes divine wrath.
In the same year, the leader of the Islamic Republic took even harsher stances against Riyadh and said, ‘How can a government ruling over a Muslim nation, an Islamic country, become a tool in the hands of the enemies of Islam, a tool in the hands of America, America’s milking cow?’
In 2019, he also criticized the despotism in Saudi Arabia and said, ‘I don’t know of a country in this region or perhaps anywhere in the world as bad as the Saudi government. The Saudi government is both tyrannical and dictatorial, both oppressive and dependent, both corrupt.’
For this kind of government, they provide nuclear facilities. They announced that they are building a nuclear plant for them. They announced that they are setting up missile production centers for them.
If they build them, I personally won’t be upset because I know that, God willing, these will fall into the hands of Islamic fighters in the not-too-distant future.
Ali Khamenei did not have a friendly tone towards Saudi Arabia even before the attack on the Saudi diplomatic centers in Tehran and Mashhad.
In 1993, in response to Saudi Arabia’s criticism of the Islamic Republic’s performance in the Hajj ceremony, he said, ‘Isn’t calling Muslims to unity and expressing hatred towards divisive factors a direct command of the Quran? The one who benefits from suspending such important duties is America and Zionism.’
Why should the Saudi government undertake something that benefits America and Zionism?
He added, ‘I strongly condemn this un-Islamic move and declare that the Iranian nation’s right to hold the disavowal ceremony in Hajj is preserved and no one has the right to prevent it.’ Or a few years earlier, at the very beginning of his leadership in 1989, he said, ‘The Saudi government that martyred hundreds of women and disabled and sick people in such a pitiable condition in the divine sanctuary on such a day is a terrorist.’
From the revolutionary dignity of the Islamic Republic and Islam and the Iranian nation, terrorist acts are far removed. Names like terrorists are suitable for those lowly people who themselves are the biggest terrorists in the world.
Since mid-last year, when Ebrahim Raisi’s government, with the green light from Ali Khamenei and in a clear political shift, began extensive efforts to reduce tensions in relations with Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Islamic Republic has commented less about Saudi Arabia.
His latest comment was in June of this year during a meeting with the Sultan of Oman, in response to Haitham bin Tariq Al Said’s expression of satisfaction with the resumption of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. He said, ‘These matters are the result of Mr. Raisi’s good policy to expand and strengthen relations with neighbors and regional countries and expressed hope that with the expansion of government relations, the Islamic community will regain its dignity and greatness.’
Some time later, in late June, Ebrahim Raisi also claimed that the Islamic Republic has never considered Saudi Arabia as an enemy, although he also emphasized in 2015 that the Islamic Republic does not need relations with Saudi Arabia and that Al Saud has become a cancerous tumor in the region and the Islamic world.
At the same time, Ebrahim Raisi, like Ali Khamenei, also promised the fall of Al Saud and said that the killing of Sheikh Nimr and the people of Yemen will bring about the fall of Al Saud, and this is a divine promise that oppression will not last.
