Global geopolitical Series: Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei accuses U.S. of provoking regional partners to confront Iran

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei accused the United States of instigating its regional partner such as Saudi Arabia to start a direct confrontation with Iran. His remarks came at a time when the United States has steadily been toughening its stance on Iran, as the new U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is touring Middle East and a day after Mr. Pompeo visited Saudi Arabia and urged its main security partner to resolve the crisis in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that began in June 2017 when several Muslim-majority countries around the world severed diplomatic relations with Qatar led by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt.

Here are some key comments from Iran’s leader:

• “The Americans are trying to provoke the Saudis and certain countries in the region and pit them against the Islamic Republic but if they have wisdom, they should not be deceived by the United States.”
• “The Americans do not want to suffer the cost of confronting the Islamic Republic and the powerful nation of Iran themselves; they want to make some states in the region shoulder it.”
• “I previously mentioned during the term of another US president, the time of hit-and-run is past. They know that if they attack, they will receive much, much stronger blows."
• “The US incites the Saudis in order to create a conflict in our region. Why don’t they incite the Zionists? Because they want Muslims to fight against Muslims,”
• Today, the war waged against us is funded by US Department of Treasury. How do we encounter it? We invest in on our own economy…. Supporting Iranian goods is one of the best and most effective ways to counter the economic designs of the enemies because they have found out that they will not be able to succeed in a hard military war."

Though comments were made before, it is nonetheless interesting to note that on Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came out accusing Iran of deceiving international community by secretly pursuing nuclear weapons.