Saudis Giving Money, Intelligence to Bandits in Eastern Iran

“We are in no doubt that all arrogant countries are seeking to bring about unwelcome developments in Iran and expend much to make that happen,” Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said on Thursday, September 29.

“For instance, Saudi Arabia provides financial and intelligence assistance to bandits in eastern Iran,” he added.

Back in August, a senior Iranian lawmaker said terrorists arrested by Iranian security forces had revealed “invaluable” information as to the patronage they had received from Saudi Arabia.

“Al Saud (the Saudi ruling family) resorts to all means in the world and the region against the Islamic Republic and, toward that end, helps terrorist groups target the Iranian nation,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis)’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said at the time.

Also earlier in the year, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Ground Forces, said that Washington and Riyadh were attempting to organize and reinforce terror groups and counter-revolutionary elements in Iran’s geographical periphery.

Iranian forces have, over the past months, engaged in clashes with terror groups, foiling their terrorist plots on the frontier and within the country, arresting a number of them and confiscating large amounts of explosives and bomb-making materials.

Shedding further light on Saudi anti-Iran efforts, the Iranian minister said “in the West, they openly meet with [members of] Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).”

Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former spy chief, attended an annual meeting of the terrorist group in Paris in July, giving a 30-minute address, during which he pledged to stand by the MKO in what he described as the outfit’s efforts against the Iranian establishment.

Fazli, however, asserted that Iran was not concerned about foreign threats.

“These threats exist, but we are not worried about them as our power to confront them is to such extent that the enemy dares not harbor the idea of proactive action.”