Saudi FM: World Should Remember Saudis Are Aligned Against Iran

Downplays Khashoggi killing, says Saudis a 'beacon of light'

Jason Ditz 

Posted onOctober 28, 2018CategoriesNewsTagsSaudi Arabia

When the international backlash to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi is taking down to brass tacks, the reason it’s more of an issue than the Saudis anticipated is that, time and again, they’ve been able to do such things without hearing more than a peep from the West. It’s taken awhile for Saudi officials to say as much, however.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir is now being more straightforward about that, tying his complaints about international reaction to the Khashoggi murder to the fact that the Saudis are aligned against Iran. In effect, the expectation is that those officials hostile toward Iran, who let’s face it, are legion, should let this slide for the sake of unity.

Jubeir declared Saudi Arabia a “beacon of light” against the Iranian darkness, and suggested the world had to choose between these two versions of the Middle East. The Saudis have always rested assured that whatever they did, their position was secure.

This time, the Khashoggi murder is costing them some top officials. One of those sacked for his involvement, Ahmed al-Assiri, was in the US in January of 2017 scheming for a US-imposed regime change against Iran, meeting with then Trump official Michael Flynn and Israeli social media strategist Joel Zamel.

https://news.antiwar.com/2018/10/28/saudi-fm-world-should-remember-saudis-are-aligned-against-iran/