Why Khamenei ignored the bombings in Saudi Arabia and didn’t condemn it?

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been quick at denouncing terrorist attacks targeting Paris, the Boston Marathon, or 9/11.

Nevertheless, Khamenei – who, as per his website, considers himself as the “Leader of Muslims” (both the Shiite and Sunni communities), did not issue any condemnation for the recent terror attacks carried out at a critical time and place; during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, near Prophet Mohammed’s mosque in the Saudi city of Medina on Monday. The terror attacks killed 4 police officers and seriously injured four other people.

In his latest speech following Eid al-Fitr prayers in Tehran, Khamenei pointed to the terrorist attacks in Turkey and Bangladesh, but not the ones in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian President, Hassan Rowhani, also appears to be following in the footsteps of Khamenei in this respect.

Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif did post a tweet condemning this kind of terrorism but because his words seem to contradict Iran’s actual foreign policies, he was accused of hypocrisy. In addition, the other crucial issue is that, Zarif, who attempts to appeal to the West by projecting Iran as a diplomatic country for geopolitical and commercial reasons, does not hold the final say in Iran’s affairs and IRGC decisions.

Fueling sectarianism?

The major Iranian state-owned media outlets, which seem to advocate Khamenei’s and IRGC positions on different issues, appear to be exploiting the terror attacks in a new pattern of sectarian rhetoric in order to buttress the government’s arguments that the Shiite are being targeted by the Sunnis and that Iran and IRGC are needed to keep Muslims safe.

For example, Press TV framed the attacks as Shiite being victims of Sunnis and used the word “Shiite” repeatedly in its news articles “since late 2014, Saudi Arabia has been witnessing a series of bombings and shootings claimed by ISIS militants and mostly targeting the country’s Shiite Muslims in the eastern part of the kingdom.

In January 2016, a bomber targeted a mosque in al-Ahsa, killing four people. Last October, armed terrorists opened fire on Shiite Muslims commemorating Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of the third Shiite Imam, Imam Hussein, in the eastern Qatif region, killing five before he was shot dead by the police.”

Press TV adds: “Last June, four Shiite Muslims were killed while trying to prevent a bomber from entering al-Anoud mosque in Dammam city in eastern Saudi Arabia and close to Qatif.”

In addition, while the terror attacks in Saudi Arabia were on the front page of many nations’ newspapers, some of Iranian major newspapers and news outlets ignored them, some underreported while some attempted to exploit the attacks with the goal of fueling sectarianism in order to advance Iran’s ideological and regional hegemonic ambitions.

In addition, Iran’s state media outlets seem to project Iran as a safe nation in the region thanks to the IRGC, while they depict Saudi Arabia as being a country plagued with insecurity.

Terror to gain interests?

A blast took place outside Prophet Mohammad's Mosque (Al Masjid-e-Nabwi) in Medina, one of the holy sites of Islam. Some news reports suggest that it was a ‘suicide bombing’ near the parking area on Monday July 4, evening . The loud explosion was heard minutes before people present there were about to end their fast.
A blast took place outside Prophet Mohammad’s Mosque (Al Masjid-e-Nabwi) in Medina, one of the holy sites of Islam. Some news reports suggest that it was a ‘suicide bombing’ near the parking area on Monday July 4, evening . The loud explosion was heard minutes before people present there were about to end their fast.

The IRGC’s role in supporting Shiite militias across the region (which further fuels sectarianism), and the IRGC’s backing of Bashar al-Assad, as well as Khamenei’s rhetoric against Saudi Arabia, seem to contradict Zarif’s latest nice collection of words.

It seems that any statement from the Iranian “moderates” is more likely aimed at a Western audience and falls into Iran’s larger political calculations of enhancing its global legitimacy and economic gains through the moderate camp, which projects the Islamic Republic as diplomatic, peacemaker, savior, rational and constructive state actor in the face of extremism in the region.

Khamenei previously delivered anti-Saudi statements in his speeches, warned Saudi Arabia of a “divine vengeance”, while some governmental media outlets blamed Saudi Arabia and called for reprisals and violent reactions from the Shiites against the Saudis. From Khamenei’s perspective, Saudi Arabia is a hurdle for the advancement of his ideological, geopolitical, and regional hegemonic ambitions.

Ideologically speaking, Khamenei views himself to be the divinely-mandated custodian and leader of all Muslims. Khamenei’s Shiite Philosophy, similar to that of Ayatollah Khomeini, dictates that Iran’s Supreme Leader is not only the paramount religious leader, but also the political leader of all Muslims regardless of whether they agree with this or not. The Islamic Republic has been attempting to export this Shiite philosophy to many nations including Saudi Arabia.

Militarily and geopolitically speaking, Khamenei and the senior cadre of IRGC believe that Saudi Arabia is the major barrier in face of Iran’s military expansion in the region and Iran’s expanding influence in Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.

Iranian leaders’ strategy of exploiting “terrorism” to advance their geopolitical and ideological interests will lead to contradictions and excesses. On the one hand, Iranian leaders continue to project themselves as the champions in fighting terror, that Iran is the only country in the region battling terrorism, that Shiites are the only victims, and that IRGC is needed more than before.

On the other hand, this strategy will inevitably come into contradiction with the reality that the Islamic Republic continues to feed terrorism through its policies (in Syria, Iraq, Yemen), and that Iran’s political and media establishments capitalize on events to meticulously exploit sectarian sentiments in the region, and finally, that Khamenei simultaneously continues to project himself as the divinely-mandated custodian and leader of all Muslims (not just Shiite).

These contradictions would inevitably lead to excesses.

Al Arabiya

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, an Iranian-American political scientist and Harvard University scholar, is president of the International American Council. Rafizadeh serves on the board of Harvard International Review at Harvard University.

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14 responses to “Why Khamenei ignored the bombings in Saudi Arabia and didn’t condemn it?”

  1. “Iranian leaders’ strategy of exploiting ‘terrorism’ to advance their geopolitical and ideological interests will lead to contradictions and excesses.”

    Why is “terrorism” in quotation marks?

  2. Rascal Avatar

    Khamenei looks like an evil Santa Claus. This is a wrenched and evil old man that thinks he speaks for the shiite muslim allah. Fvcking 12’ers.

    1. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
      Michaelinlondon1234

      Keep breeding the locust plague that is humanity in the middle east then. It seems to suit your nature.

      1. Rascal Avatar

        I don’t breed anything to the ME, I call it the way I see it. The Plague has existed way before I ever noticed all the senseless death and destruction and needless waste of life. People there, because of the culture, seem to lack empathy. This is a total disregard for human life that is buried under the rubble that Islamic domination has produced.
        And don’t be shocked that your ancestral homeland is a big part of the problem today. Everyone can share the blame and no one is immune.

    2. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      Wahhabi speak for whom?

  3. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
    Michaelinlondon1234

    Some one should assassinate Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, for writing something so evil.
    This is classic completely evil USA propaganda.

    1. Rascal Avatar

      You advocate execution because of free speech. You will make Khamenei proud. Enjoy your free speech in the west, mullahs would not give you the same rights.

      1. Hind Abyad Avatar
        Hind Abyad

        Idem

      2. Hind Abyad Avatar
        Hind Abyad

        Idem.

      3. This degenerate wants “someone” to do the job for him. How very manly. 🙂

      4. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
        Michaelinlondon1234

        A US senator over the weekend said it was good for the USA to kill people in the middle east. With over 7 billion people in the world if I had access to one of the big red buttons to start a nuclear war I would have launched them 5 years ago. I do not really like any one any more. You are all Killers, thieves and fraudsters. I am sure you have robbed someone of something in some fashion recently.
        There are no gods just the evil that is humanity.

        1. Rascal Avatar

          Mate, you have some serious issues, if you speak from the heart? I do not carry such a heavy weight as you. You are not going to blow yourself up? Are you? Just asking, as you seem to have some serious depression going there. It is hard to see the good when there is so much bad in the way, but it is there, if you look for it.
          The wars will go on in the lands of war, I am no factor, just an observer.
          I do not cause the Taliban/wahabi to kill western influence and investment. They do that. Afghanistan is slow to evolve, because of radical Islam that feels the need to kill, this is bad for economic business. Who do you expect to plant the trees? The people need to want this too and be involved, so they would need to stop the tribal attacks and killings.
          The majority of countries can turn around, even after loosing a war, and move forward with remaking their country and growing with the natural progression of evolution, but not Islamic countries, they are stuck on a tread mill going nowhere and repeating the same failed histories. The west can not fix the middle east attitudes when religion is concerned, Islam has done more to harm itself than any other religion or cult.

          1. Michaelinlondon1234 Avatar
            Michaelinlondon1234

            I am fully aware of the destruction the west does. I have lived in it for about 95% of my life.
            Middle east. 1900 the whole of the middle east had about 45 million people in it. Persian and Ottoman empires.
            Places like Lebanon and Turkey have been net exporters of population in the 20th century for a multitude of reasons. But breed faster than they export. Israel inverted that in late 20th century by trying to move all Jewish people to Israel.
            Arable land has decreased and they ate most of the forests.
            Millennium goals have some serious downsides that governments and populations do not talk about.
            Universal medical….means less people die and live longer(good). result in huge population surge (bad). This applies to Africa as well. This is really destabilising to countries. How do you get the message to populations who herd goats or cattle that they need to have less children. When they have had little or no form of education. If they get extra money they buy more goats. When we do educate a small group most move straight to western countries for better pay and living conditions.
            Ethiopia is a classic example of a country that is run on semi tribal lines. when the famines of the 80’s happened. We fed them but left out the family planning and contraception. Population has more than doubled and now ten million are food stressed. This applies to all regions irrespective of religions.
            Syria had a good network of hospitals and schools pre conflict.
            They had done a lot on irrigation and universal water supply.
            Result…Population surge. Add USA/UK agitation for government change 2008-11. Now heavily reduced universal education and hospital provision. And all because the USA wanted its empire. (I am aware of 5 eyes and the way it works.)
            The UN has been corrupted by western trained bureaucrats.
            So your statement “The west can not fix the middle east attitudes….Stop bombing the place would be a good place to start. Engage the Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars and populations in a constant discussion on family planning/ contraception. Spike all the captagan tablets with contraceptives?(Cynical joke)
            Stop doing regime change projects and start doing universal education? Might be also a good place to start.

  4. Hind Abyad Avatar
    Hind Abyad

    Says ‘AL Arabia’, owned by Saudi Arabia
    HRW say Saudi Arabia uses Cluster Bombs targeting civilians.
    http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/politics/saudi-arabia-us-cluster-bombs-on-civilians/

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