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content, this demonstration was different from all the usual state-organised rallies held to date. Well-dressed residents of northern
Tehran stood outside the Saudi representation and shouted slogans that were not at all Islamic in nature, but nationalistic: Why
make the pilgrimage to Mecca?!, their placards read.
Irans official propaganda machine suddenly faced a dilemma: angry voices against Saudi Arabia may be welcome, but they
should not mutate into manifestations of Persian nostalgia or become an expression of anti-Arab or even anti-Islamic feeling. The
government in Tehran stuck to its official version of events: it was not rape, but sexual harassment; Saudi Arabia must
nevertheless apologise and arrest the police officers responsible.
Pilgrimages to Mecca suspended
DESPITE such attempts to bring some moderation to the situation, the atmosphere remains tense, and the Iranian government is
under pressure to act. Ali Jannati, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, announced on state television that until the two
Saudi officials have been arrested and punished, there will be no more pilgrimages to Mecca outside of the official hajj season.
While Saudi Arabia is officially ignoring the incident and saying nothing about it, the propaganda mill in Tehran continues to
turn. The rape and humiliation of pilgrims is systematic, declared Irans judicial authority, which is controlled by hardliners.
This means the statement is a kind of legal-religious opinion and that has far-reaching consequences because it is questioning
Saudi Arabias credentials as guardian of Islams holiest shrines for all Muslims.
But there is no mention of all this Iranian agitation and outrage in the Saudi media. SaudiIranian relations have clearly reached a
low point similar to the one 29 years ago, when the founder of the Iranian Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared: I
will probably forgive Saddam Hussein one day, but never Al-Saud.
But such comparisons are always problematic. Iraq, the enemy at that time, has long advanced to the status of ally, and it is Saudi
Arabia that is now involved a war without attainable goals.
Dangerous rivalry, uncertain future
THE flames of the military and propaganda fires are blazing, and they have huge potential to grow and spread. They could
develop into a huge conflagration, a blaze that transgresses borders and affects several countries. Or they will become an
unending smouldering fire with an uncertain outcome. Whatever happens, the flames will not die down that quickly.
Where the military adventure in Yemen will eventually lead also depends on the words and deeds of the leaders in Tehran. Senior
figures within the Islamic Republic are still trying to keep a cool head, after all, Iran is neither willing nor able to enter into a
military adventure particularly in view of the fact that it is currently entering the world of diplomacy through its nuclear
negotiations.
While foreign minister Javad Zarif recently presented a four-point peace plan for Yemen in the Spanish capital Madrid which
Saudi Arabia naturally rejected out of hand the west has strangely thrown its entire weight behind Saudi Arabia. The UN
Security Council imposed a weapons embargo on the Houthi rebels and called on them to withdraw from occupied territories.
Hours later, the Houthi-controlled Yemeni news agency said the resolution directly supported the enemy and that this act of
hostility would be punished by the people.
Ali Sadrzadeh Qantara.de, May 22.
- See more at: http://newagebd.net/123709/the-threat-of-a-regional-conflagration/#sthash.C1RiIXp6.dpuf