In today’s terrifying news, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince claims that Iran and Lebanon have committed an act of war when a Yemeni missile was launched against Saudi cities.
This is is truly terrifying, and comes on the heels of a few other signs that Saudi Arabia is going bat shit crazy.
A little back story — Trump authorized a new arms deal with Saudi Arabia to the tune of $350 billion.
First, there was the long meeting with Kushner, Trump’s go to guy for the Middle East. Then, there was the purge. Next the Lebanese Prime Minister, largely seen as a client of Saudi Arabia, visited the kingdom and declares Lebanon is under the sway of Iran and it needs to stop, and resigned while there. There have been accusations tossed around that he was kidnapped and forced to say this. Now, the Saudis have claimed that Iran and Lebanon committed an act of war when Yemen launched a missile, and the crown prince is saying the kingdoms will retaliate.
This is frightening and will quickly escalate. So far Iran and Lebanon have denied any connection to the missile launch. But with Saudi claiming this is an act of war and will retaliate? If Iran is attacked it won't sit by and do nothing. Russia could get drawn in as well — they've been working with Iran on Syria, and have worked closely on the nuclear deal. Trump has been encouraging Saudi to exert itself in the region and has been calling the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf, which is highly insulting to Iranians.
I think Kushner’s visit was about getting assurances from the US that there would be no interference if Saudi Arabia attacks Iran and staged a coup in Lebanon.
Buckle up folks.