Saudi urged US strike on Iran: WikiLeaks Monday, 29 November 2010 02:18

US disappointed about failure in Qatar to stop funding terrorism

US officials instructed to spy on UN leaders

LONDON: The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis yesterday, with the leaking to the international media of more than 250,000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear programme, according to leaked US cables. Another disclosure is that US officials were instructed to spy on the UN leadership.

The details from the cables being released include discussions on the US being unable to stop Syrian arms to Hezbollah, its disappointment in Qatar to stop funding terrorism and hacking by the Chinese government of US computers.

The revelations expose behind-the-scenes pressures in the scramble to contain the Islamic Republic, which the US, Arab states and Israel suspect is close to acquiring nuclear weapons.

The Saudi king was recorded as having "frequently exhorted the US to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons programme", one cable stated. "He told you [Americans] to cut off the head of the snake," the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel Al Jubeir said, according to a report on King Abdullah's meeting with the US general David Petraeus. The king of Bahrain said Iran "must be stopped," according to the release. Abu Dhabi Prince Mohammed bin Zayed said ground troops should be put on the ground in Iran.

The secret dispatches which were obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistleblowers' website, also reveal Washington's evaluation of many other highly sensitive international issues. These include a major shift in relations between China and North Korea, Pakistan's growing instability and details of clandestine US efforts to combat Al Qaeda in Yemen.

The material includes a reference to Vladimir Putin as an "alpha-dog", Hamid Karzai as being "driven by paranoia" and Angela Merkel allegedly "avoids risk and is rarely creative".

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