The Saudis are accusing Iran of orchestrating the missile attack from the Houthis in Yemen Sunday, and calling it an act of war.
From the New York Times:
Saudi Arabia charged Monday that a missile fired at its capital from Yemen over the weekend was an “act of war” by Iran, in the sharpest escalation in nearly three decades of mounting hostility between the two regional rivals.
“We see this as an act of war,” the Saudi foreign minister, Adel Jubair, said in an interview on CNN. “Iran cannot lob missiles at Saudi cities and towns and expect us not to take steps.”
The accusation, which Iran denied, came a day after a wave of arrests in Saudi Arabia that appeared to complete the consolidation of power by the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, 32. Taken together, the two actions signaled a new aggressiveness by the prince both at home and abroad, as well as a new and more dangerous stage in the Saudi cold war with Iran for dominance in the region.
Saudis have been fighting proxy wars with Iran for a while, but this is bringing it out in the open. They say they reserve the right to respond, which will only worsen the tension in the region. And remember that Trump has signaled that we’re 100% behind the Saudis. In fact, he just tweeted this:
I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2017
Coincidence?
Read more about the weird shenanigans in Saudi Arabia over the weekend here.