Editorial: Need for caution Thursday, 13 October 2011 04:31

The US-Iran tug-of-war has entered a new dangerous phase after Washington said that it had foiled a plot by two men linked to Iran’s security agencies to assassinate Saudi ambassador to the US Adel Al Jubeir, a close aide to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. The alleged plot was part of a $1.5m scheme that was directly linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Quds Force. Iran hit back, angrily denying the charges and portraying the plot as a cynical concoction by the FBI and the US authorities intended to make the Islamic regime a scapegoat for America’s economic woes. The plot emerges in the context of heightened tensions and competition for regional influence between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the midst of the tumultuous Arab uprisings. Saudi Arabia said Iran would “pay a price” and the Gulf Cooperation Council said the alleged plot “severely” harms relations with Iran. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that Iran’s relations with Saudi Arabia were “good”.

Questions abound on the evidence for and timing of the US announcement on the murder-for-hire scheme that cuts across international lines. Bizarre is the fact that the unravelling of the plot came from a surprising place — the front lines of the drug war along the Mexican border. Also, many Arabs remain sceptical about US motives in a region where few have forgotten the flawed case made by Washington for invading Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The United States has led a global effort to isolate Iran and escalate United Nations sanctions in recent years, in response to what Washington and its regional allies including Saudi Arabia and Israel believe is a front for building nuclear weapons. Washington wants Iran to scrap the programme, and Iran refuses to compromise on what it sees at its right to develop nuclear technology under international agreements. The backdrop to all this is ongoing low-level clashes between American forces and Iranian proxies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Al Jubeir is the hand-picked, trusted envoy of King Abdullah. Al Jubeir, 49, previously served as the Saudi embassy’s congressional liaison and head of the information office. Educated in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Germany, Lebanon and the United States, Al Jubeir joined Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic service in 1987. He was appointed Riyadh’s envoy to Washington in 2007. The thwarting of the plot almost certainly averted a conflict, for the time being, but regional tension will remain. Any remote hope of resumed nuclear talks is also dead for now.

The international community must study the detailed report of the alleged plot before pushing for more sanctions on the Islamic Republic.