It is hard to believe the Iranian officials when they say that the relations between their government and Saudi Arabia are normal, insisting that American “arrogance” is on the prowl, mobilized and conspiring while awaiting the opportunity to ignite “strife among the Muslims in the Persian Gulf area.” In the Arab Gulf region, concerns related to the ambitions of the Iranian neighbor are no longer being whispered, especially in regard to its “nuclear” tentacles. There are also fears that have emerged since the beginning of 2011, concerning Iran's extensions that might exploit the Arab Spring to impose tutelage over its revolutions, in the name of an “Islamic awakening,” that Tehran believes it has a claim to leading in the name of the 1979 revolution. And while the Americans' unveiling of the Iranian conspiracy to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in Washington Adel al-Jubair heralds a new stage in the difficult course of the relations between Tehran and Riyadh, in reality, 2011 can go down in the history of the relations between Iran and most of the Gulf Cooperation States - including Saudi Arabia – as being a year of great bitterness between the two sides, if one were to exclude the time of the Iraqi-Iranian war (1980-1988). In the year that saw the earthquake of the Arab Spring, Iranian officials are disregarding the fact that diplomats were mutually expelled with Bahrain, the country which accused Tehran of interfering in its affairs. They are also disregarding the case of the “spy network” that was uncovered in Kuwait and that culminated with the expulsion of Iranian diplomats. Moreover, they pretend to have forgotten the campaign against the GCC states, their accusation of Manama of persecution and Riyadh of “playing with fire”, when the GCC met Bahrain's need to contain turmoil and deployed troops from the Peninsula Shield Force. But the first thing that was neglected by the various wings of the regime and the leadership in Iran, was that just as they agreed over a unified decision to contain the crisis in Bahrain, the six GCC member-states also agreed over abandoning their silence towards Iran's arrogance against all its neighbors. In truth, Iran's arrogance is often accompanied by tutelage attempts, and by giving out certificates attesting to the “good behavior” and honest concern toward the causes of the Muslims and the Arabs, from Palestine, to Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, and Yemen. The symbols of these wings, who condemn what they dub a “demonic conspiracy” embodied in the “fabrication” of the Iranian plot to assassinate Adel al-Jubair, forgot that responding by claiming that relations with Saudi Arabia are “normal” would not convince anyone, regardless of the course of the criminal investigation and the motives. These symbols forgot that the Gulf countries forsook their official silence at least twice in 2011, through statements issued by the foreign ministers describing the Iranian policy as being the source of sectarian strife in their countries, and as meddling in their affairs, “conspiring” against their interests and turning factions among their citizens against them with all the consequences this entails, under the pretext of concern over human rights. The message of the new Gulf rhetoric is that the GCC countries have had enough and that the language of slogans is the same as the language of instigation… kisses in the Iranian government's statements whenever it feels isolated, and stabs behind their backs. But the GCC has not and will not declare war on Tehran, despite all the bitterness and the conspiracies. The Gulf States are aware of the fact that the region and its people would be the main losers in any confrontation, as they know what the Khamenei-Ahmadinejad leadership is not aware of, i.e. that dark clouds loom over the Arab spring as if saying that playing with fire will burn the players who strike the first match. Regardless of the criminal course of the conspiracy to assassinate Ambassador Adel al-Jubair and the magnitude of official Iranian involvement, Washington can consider the evidence in its hands sufficient to accuse Tehran of trying to undermine the United States' sovereignty through planning a major crime on its soil. As for the European angry reaction, this enhances the possibility of seeing the adoption of difficult options hinted to by American Vice President Joe Biden when he spoke about inevitable “accountability for the Iranians.” The least that could be expected at this level is for the American administration not to settle for a statement of condemnation issued by the Security Council or a package of sanctions targeting a state which it still believes is “sponsoring terrorism.” The conspiracy is leading to an imminent Western-Iranian confrontation, and during the times of the blazing and non-traditional Spring witnessed throughout the region, the flames of the clashes cannot be limited to “classical” arenas. Tehran missed the fact that whoever lies repeatedly, will find no one to believe him, even he were to disown his lies or express regret.
