(MENAFN - Arab News) An Iranian opposition diplomat and former adviser at the Iranian Embassy in Norway claims Iran plans to destabilize security in the Gulf region, notably Saudi Arabia.
"The next few months will be crucial and critical for the Middle East following the approval given by Iranian religious leader Ali Khamenei to create a crisis in the region, in a bid to ease political and media pressure on the two Iranian allies in the region - the Syrian and Iraqi regimes," Farzad Farennikan was quoted as saying.
Farennikan claimed that Khamenei has also agreed to support Al-Qaeda leaders residing in Iran under the supervision of Iranian security agencies, to encourage their fellow members and supporters in Saudi Arabia to carry out protest actions and target vital installations in the Kingdom. They also hope to have their detained Al-Qaeda members set free to launch joint attacks with the Houthis of Yemen on Saudi security forces in the southern parts of the Kingdom, he added.
The Houthis were reportedly provided with Iranian weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles to attack Saudi warplanes, and Iranian-made drones, he said.
Meanwhile, Gulf-Arab security agencies have disclosed that Iranian-Syrian cells have played a major role in attempts to blow up vital facilities in the Gulf, including the recent foiled plan to bomb King Fahd Causeway which links Saudi Arabia with Bahrain.
It has also been claimed that the Iraqi Da'wa (Call) and Hezbollah, both operational in Iraq, have plotted to transport ammunition and explosives into Saudi territory using water and oil tankers. The shipments were destined for an area in the northern part of the Kingdom, said Iraqi sources close to the two outfits . However, Saudi security bodies were able to detect and capture the tankers outside one of the country's major cities, the sources said.
In another development, Iran announced that a Saudi diplomat accredited to Tehran allegedly ran over an Iranian citizen with his car.
The Saudi diplomat was driving his car at high speed in violation of the law and Tehran was following up on the case through judicial and diplomatic bodies, Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, was quoted as saying. The incident resulted in injuries to the Iranian driver and death of a passerby, according to the spokesman.
Mehmanparast's statement came after the disclosure of an Iranian-Syrian plot to bomb a plane carrying Iraqi Umrah performers in Makkah Province. However, Saudi security and intelligence agencies foiled the plot. The Kingdom has not released any statement so far on the matter.
