Iran’s attempt to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, which was announced by official US authorities, needs to be read carefully by everyone; Saudis, Arabs and even the West. The news of the Iranian terrorist plot against the Saudi Ambassador must be read as follows:

The Quds Force, affiliated to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, planned to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to Washington via Mexican drug barons. These are the facts, and thus they must be read according to official statements and not the media. Interpreting the news in accordance with this formula should help the reader see the bigger picture. This is – in all simplicity – that the Iranian Quds Force in Iraq, accused of a series of assassinations against politicians, pilots and professors since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, is the same corps under the leadership of Qassem Suleimani, who seeks to control Lebanon through Hezbollah. Furthermore, Suleimani is currently operating the crackdown today in Syria in defense of Bashar al-Assad. The man in charge, i.e. Suleimani, is also in communication and coordination with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, and even Iran. The Quds Force allied with drugs barons in Mexico to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador, and target Riyadh’s Embassy in Washington.

This means, as I said the day before yesterday on the “al-Arabiya” channel, that Iran has come to depend on assassinations as one of its fundamental tools to exhaust and weaken its enemies, most notably Saudi Arabia of course, as it has done in Iraq and Lebanon. Had the planned assassination of the Saudi Ambassador succeeded – God forbid – we would have seen a statement issued by al-Qaeda claiming that the operation was in retaliation to the killing of Osama bin Laden, and the real story would be lost as usual. On a side note, there is intelligence information indicating that death squads trained in Iran have moved from Iraq to Syria in order to kill internal Syrian opposition figures, and revolution sympathizers, which is what we are seeing today in Syria. There is no need for any more evidence to declare that Iran is exercising state terrorism.

Iran targeting Saudi Arabia, for example, is not a new phenomenon, though it has escalated recently since the Khomeini revolution. More importantly, Tehran wants to target the only high-rise building in our region, namely Saudi Arabia, more than ever before. With the consecutive impact of the Arab political earthquake upon most principal Arab states, only one Arab edifice remains intact; Saudi Arabia, with its religious, economic and political weight. Of course, the taller the building the easier target it is, and this is what Iran is doing today, especially as its most significant ally, Bashar al-Assad, is staggering, having used to facilitate Iran’s mission penetrating the region and its states, whether in Lebanon or Iraq.

Iran’s loss of the al-Assad regime means that its dream of exporting its revolution is over, which in turn means that Tehran is now facing its historical obligation to pay bills that are long overdue. Iran’s mullahs felt this in the form of a resounding slap from Saudi Arabia in Bahrain, which has made Tehran lose its mind. Now the Iranian regime will not even hesitate to target Saudi figures, after targeting internal Saudi locations such as al-Awamiyah, and likewise through targeting Saudi allies like Bahrain, as well as affiliated states and politicians.

The question here is: do the deceived now understand that Iran is the real enemy? I hope so.