Iraq’s Ain Al-Asad Airbase Targeted By Rocket Attack

In a shift in its regional policy, Erdogan this week visited Saudi Arabia, while having delayed a similar visit to Iran. Abdolreza Farajirad, a professor of international relations in Tehran told ILNA news website that Erdogan is signalling his preference to strengthen ties with Riyadh amid his country’s economic crisis.

Iran is under United States’ sanctions, he said, and Erdogan needs economic partners.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia have a common will to "reactivate a great economic potential" between the two countries, Erdogan said on Saturday, after his first trip to the kingdom since 2017.

Speaking to reporters on a flight back from Saudi Arabia, where he sought to mend frayed ties, Erdogan said the sides were determined to accelerate efforts for the common interests and stability of the region, Turkish media reported.

"We agreed with Saudi Arabia to reactivate a great economic potential through organizations that will bring our investors together," Erdogan said.

Farajirad said that Erdogan is acting according to Turkey’s national interests. US sanctions have reduced Turkish-Iranian commerce and what Ankara needs is investments and trade. He pointed out that Erdogan’s outreach began with the United Arab Emirates and then Israel, culminating with his trip to Saudi Arabia.

Over his long tenure, Erdogan has shown that he is capable of shifting his foreign policy direction to address Turkey’s needs, Farajirad said emphasizing the importance of pursuing national interests.

Although he could not openly criticize the Islamic Republic in Iran’s controlled media environment, the analyst was indirectly drawing a parallel between Turkish foreign policy and Iran’s ideological approach to foreign policy.

“This shows our foreign policy is at an impasse, although I don’t want to criticize the foreign ministry, but until there is no agreement in Vienna, the impasse will continue,” Farajirad argued.

After more than year of negotiations with world powers, particularly with the United States in Vienna, Iran has still not agreed to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement, JCPOA, demanding that its Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) be removed from a US list of terrorist organizations.

Washington, in return, maintains that the terrorist designation has nothing to do with the nuclear issue, and if Tehran wants non-nuclear sanctions to be removed it should be willing to discuss its destabilizing regional role.

So far, the Islamic Republic has remained defiant, emphasizing its opposition to Israel and Arab countries that have normalized ties with the Jewish state.

The IRGC continues to speak loudly and emphasize its ongoing support to militant groups in the region.

Farajirad argued that in the meantime, Riyadh’s foreign policy has become active again, taking positions which make it easier for other countries to draw closer to its positions. As a result, it has had successes in improving ties with Qatar and Turkey and also influence events in Lebanon and Pakistan, where the Muslim League has returned to power.

Erdogan, in turn, has found the moment opportune for trying to benefit from Saudi Arabia’s vast financial resources, especially at a time of high oil prices, “to benefit from trade with Saudi Arabia and investments by Riyadh.”

“The Zionist media say that just in the past 40 days 15 Zionists have been killed and dozens wounded in a series of Palestinian attacks,” Fars news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard wrote in a report on Saturday.

The language used, such as calling civilian victims of attacks “Zionists”, to justify their killing according to the ideology of Iran’s rulers, is not a new phenomenon, but the obvious triumphant tone in supporting these attacks shows a recent rhetorical escalation.

Fars went on to say, “Just four special operations of Palestinian resistance in only 18 days in March-April took the lives of 14 Zionists and wounded others, creating strong fear in Tel Aviv about a new wave of operations against Zionists.” At the same time, Iranian officials have clearly reiterated their support for ‘Palestinian resistance’ and praised their material support for groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah.

The unmistakable aggressive tone comes across all platforms, including top leaders of the Islamic Republic, who unleashed a barrage of threatening language in the past few days, as the annual Quds Day approached on Friday.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Friday delivered a speech to mark the Quds Day, launched by Tehran in the 1990s to show its fundamental opposition to the existence of a Jewish state. "Palestinian youth, and the military manoeuvres in Gaza indicate that all of Palestine has turned into an arena of resistence," he said.

Other officials threatened Arab countries who have normalized relations with Israel, with some highlighting that a new solid-fuel missile, Kheybar could reach Tel Aviv in under 10 minutes.

The aggressive public stance comes at a curious time, when the Biden Administration seems to be in an internal debate over whether to remove the IRGC from its foreign terrorist organzation list, as Tehran has been demanding as a pre-condition to reviving the Obama-era nuclear agreement known as JCPOA.

It would be logical to expect that the Islamic Republic would adopt a more cautious public posture not to put the White House in a more difficult position than what it finds itself in, as domestic opposition rises to further concenssions to Iranians.

But apparently Tehran has decided to highlight the fact that it will not change its interventionist regioanl posture, most clearly demonstrated by the role IRGC plays in supporting and arming militant anti-Israeli and anti-Western militants.

The clear signal came not just from Tehran, but all proxy forces in the region chimed in to highlight their anti-Israel ideology.

The Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militia in Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon all joined the messaging from Tehran, reiterating their rejection of Israel and echoing the statements by Khamenei and other Iranian officials on Friday.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah praised Khamenei for supporting “the resistance”, saying, "What Imam Khamenei said today underscored his serious and firm commitment to supporting Palestine and the resistance movements in the region."

Speaking on Iran's annual Quds Day, Al-Houthi echoed statements made by Iranian leaders earlier in the day, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who threatened those Arab countries which have established full ties with Israel.

Iran's Fras news website affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) covered Al-Houthi's remarks.

Yemen's Houthis receive military and political support by Iran in their conflict with other Yemenis backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2014.

Iranian leaders made aggressive remarks against Israel and Arab counties who have signed peace deals with Israel, anid stralled nuclear talks with the United States.

Al-Houthi said, "Those who accompany the Israeli enemy are retreating from clear principles."

Another senior Houthi official, Mohammad Al-Bakhiti, threatened Israel on Friday demanding that it "seizes actions against Quds" or Jerusalem. He said that if the city, also consideredholy by Muslims, would face an existential threat, that would trigger a regional conflict.

He added that missiles and drones have changed the military equation and created a new reality.

Iran has been sharing its missile and drone technology with Yemena;s Houthis and has also supllied other proxy froces, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqo Shiite militias.

On Thursday night, social media users were spreading the claim on Telegram channels that the Qatari envoy, initially named as Ali Ben Hamad Al Sulaiti, had been targeted on a Tehran street. The current ambassador is Mohammed bin Hamad Al Hajri, who replaced Al Sulaiti after he announced as Qatar's ambassador to Peru in 2018.

Iran’s foreign ministry cautioned media outlets to be careful over reporting such ‘news,’ while the Qatari embassy did not comment.

Tehran supported Doha after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain launched an economic boycott of Qatarin 2017. The quartet made 13 demands of Qatar including ending any ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi opposition, closing the al-Jazeera television station, and restricting relations with Iran.

During February’s visit by President Ebrahim Raisi to Doha for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, the two countries signed several deals. Iran and Qatar share the world’s biggest gas-field, with Iran’s portion known as South Pars and Qatar’s as North Dome.

Khamenei in televized remarks claimed that "everything is signalling a new equation in Palestine’s present and future," as the Israeli army "has been forced to turn its aggressive formation into a defensive one."

However, he did not explain the reasons for his perception of a change in the region. Khamenei also tried to portray the United States as "the most important supporter of Israel," finding itself in a weak state.

"The United States of America, has suffered consecutive defeats in the war in Afghanistan, in its maximum pressure policy against Iran, in trying to control the economy of the world, in the internal management of its own affairs and the deep rift that has developed in the US establishment." He also said that America has been defeated by "Asian powers," probably meaning China and North Korea.

Meanwhile, the 83-year-old cleric claimed that opinion "polls show almost 70% of Palestinians in the 1948 and 1967 borders and in the surrounding camps (Lebanon, Syria) encourage their leaders to carry out attacks on Israel." He did not mention the source of the poll in question.

Referring to recent sporadic unrest in Jerusalem, Khamenei also claimed that moves by "Palestinian youth, and the military manoeuvres in Gaza indicate that all of Palestine has turned into an arena of resistance."

Khamenei's uncompromising remarks came as nuclear talks with the US have come to a standstill because of the destablizing role of the Revolutionary Guard in the region.

He further claimed that "the Zionist regime is out of breath," and that "the formation of the resistance in West Asia has been the most blessed phenomenon in this region in recent decades."

The Islamic Republic calls its campaign against Israel the ‘resistance’, including militant forces it supports in the region.

While renewing his support for jihadists in Palestinian territories, Khamenei condemned regional countries for normalizing their ties with Israel. He said: "The Islamic Republic supports the resistance camp. It advocates and supports the Palestinian Resistance. We have always said this, we have always acted on this, and we have stood by it."

Khamenei added: "We condemn the treacherous move to normalize relations with Israel. We condemn the policy of a normalization of relations." He further charged that those Arab states which have normalized ties with Israel "have behaved treacherously and have brought disgrace to the Arab world."

Meanwhile several military commanders and politicians boasted about Iran's power and condemned regional countries for trying to normalize relations with Israel. IRGC Commander Hossein Salami in a televised message to Palestinians that was broadcast on Iran's Arabic speaking Al-Alam TV once again promised that "Israel will soon be wiped off the map."

In another development, IRGC Intelligence Chief Hosein Taeb said that the Islamic Republic has empowered its forces to launch intelligence offensives against Israel.

President Ebrahim Raisi in speech delivered in Tehran warned the regional Arab states who have normalized their ties with Israel that "Normalization of relations with Israel is tantamount to nurturing a snake up your sleeve."

The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament (Majles) Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said during a meeting with senior Hamas officials in Tehran that "resistance groups should make normalization of ties with Israel costly for Muslim countries."