PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL CRITICIZES IRAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIYADH 10006 E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR TAGS: PREL PTER KISL OIC GCC IR SA SUBJECT: PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL CRITICIZES IRAN ¶1. (CONFIDENTIAL - ENTIRE TEXT). ¶2. DURING A NOVEMBER 21 MEETING ON A VARIETY OF TOPICS (SEPTELS, NOTAL),THE AMBASSADOR SPARKED A DIATRIBE ON IRAN FROM SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL BY ASKING WHAT HE THOUGHT IRAN WAS UP TO IN THE OIC. PRINCE SAUD REPLIED THAT IRAN HAD INDEED OFFERED TO HOST THE NEXT OIC SUMMIT. IN HIS OPINION, THIS REPRESENTED A TACTICAL CHANGE IN IRANIAN POLICY, NOT A STRATEGIC ONE. HE EXPLAINED THAT IN THE PAST, IRAN HAD TRIED TO COMPETE WITH SAUDI ARABIA BY SETTING UP ITS OWN ISLAMIC ORGANIZATIONS. THEY HAD FAILED IN THIS REGARD AND WERE NOW ATTEMPTING TO WORK THROUGH THE EXISTING MACHINERY INSTEAD. HOWEVER, THEIR GOALS REMAINED THE SAME -- REGIONAL HEGEMONY AND INTERVENTION IN ARAB AFFAIRS. ¶3. TURNING TO GCC RELATIONS WITH IRAN, PRINCE SAUD SAID THAT OMAN WAS NO LONGER AS "FASCINATED" WITH IRAN AS IT HAD ONCE BEEN. (LATER, THE PRINCE REMARKED THAT HE RECOGNIZED THE OMANIS HAD TO ADOPT A DIFFERENT POSTURE ON IRAN THAN SOME OTHER GCC STATES DUE TO THEIR CLOSE GEOGRAPHIC PROXIMITY TO IT.) IN FACT, PRINCE SAUD CONTINUED, ALL GCC COUNTRIES DESIRED GOOD RELATIONS WITH IRAN, BUT IRANIAN POLICIES (ITS MILITARY BUILD-UP, AGGRESSIVE SCHEDULE OF MILITARY EXERCISES, AND THE ANTI-PEACE CONFERENCE IN TEHRAN) REMINDED EVERYONE THAT THE ONLY REAL THREATS TO GULF SECURITY HAD COME FROM STATES WITHIN THE REGION. ¶4. PRINCE SAUD CONTINUED THAT THE ONLY AREA WHERE IRAN WAS BEING AT ALL REASONABLE WAS ON THE HOSTAGES IN LEBANON. HOWEVER, EVEN HERE HE SAW AN ULTERIOR MOTIVE, SAYING THAT THE IRANIANS' TRUE OBJECTIVE WAS TO GET THE WESTERN ECONOMIC BOYCOTT OF IRAN LIFTED. THE IRANIANS NOW REALIZE, HE SAID, THAT THEY MUST STRENGTHEN THEIR ECONOMY IF THEY ARE TO ACHIEVE THEIR MILITARY AND POLITICAL OBJECTIVES. ¶5. PRINCE SAUD CONCLUDED HIS CRITIQUE OF IRAN BY NOTING THAT, FORTUNATELY, THE IRANIANS WERE NOT FOOLING ANY OF THE GCC COUNTRIES, ALL OF WHOM HE SAID REGARDED IRAN AS A THREAT NOT AN ALLY. THERE WOULD OF COURSE BE SPORADIC ATTEMPTS TO SHOW GOOD NEIGHBORLINESS, SUCH AS THE RECENT VISIT BY QATAR'S CROWN PRINCE, BUT MOST IRANIAN/GCC PROJECTS, SUCH AS THE SWEETWATER PIPELINE TO QATAR UNDER THE GULF, WOULD FALL OF THEIR OWN WEIGHT FOR ECONOMIC REASONS, THE FOREIGN MINISTER CONCLUDED. ¶6. COMMENT: PRINCE SAUD'S CANDID REMARKS DEMONSTRATE CLEARLY THAT DESPITE THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS, THERE IS NO LOVE LOST BETWEEN SAUDI ARABIA AND ITS MAIN COMPETITOR FOR INFLUENCE IN THE MUSLIM WORLD. FREEMAN