Araweelo News Network

Naseer al-Omari, a writer and political commentator, says Saudi Arabia has entered into a dispute with Qatar because Riyadh seeks to revive the pre-Arab Spring era in the Middle East.

“They (the Saudis) want to bring the Arab world back to pre-Arab Spring era, where they had the final say,” the commentator told Press TV on Friday.

The Saudis are involved in the dispute with Qataris because “they believe that Qatar is one small nail in their coffin,” Omari said.

“The intensions of the Saudis are really not fighting terrorism since they are one of the biggest producers and distributors of terrorism,” he said.

Iran, for its part, accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting extremists in the region, including IS. Many Iranians, including the powerful Revolutionary Guards, were thus quick to blame the kingdom for the attacks in Tehran, even as IS was claiming responsibility. Much attention has been focused on comments that Muhammad bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s powerful deputy crown prince, made last month. “We won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “Instead, we will work so that the battle is for them in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia.” He then accused Iran of wanting to take control of Mecca, Islam’s holiest site.

Saudi Arabia appears to have been emboldened by the support of Donald Trump, America’s president. “From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms and trains terrorists, militias and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region,” said Mr Trump on a visit to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, last month. Just weeks later, on June 5th, the kingdom, along with the UAE, Egypt and Yemen, cut ties with Qatar, in part over its support for Iran.

But in examining the the attacks on June 7th, a more important factor seems to be the state of IS. As the jihadists lose ground in Iraq, Syria and Libya, they are lashing out more abroad. Moreover, judging by its propaganda, IS really wanted to hit Iran. Its past failures were a source of some shame in jihadist circles. But the successful attack may not boost morale for very long. American-backed forces launched an operation to capture Raqqa, IS’s de facto capital in Syria, this week.