Ancient Tinderbox of emotions running high.

Jan. 3, 2016: Smoke rises as Iranian protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran. (Mohammadreza Nadimi/ISNA via AP)

Iran's supreme leader warns Saudi Arabia of 'divine revenge' for cleric's execution

Iran’s supreme leader warned Saudi Arabia of “divine revenge” Sunday following the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting terrorism, escalating a war of words after protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

Sheikh Nimir al-Nimir was executed Saturday along with 46 others, including three other Shiite dissidents and a number of Al Qaeda militants. Al-Namir was a key leader in the Arab Spring protests in Saudi Arabia before his arrest in 2012. His execution drew condemnation from Shiites across the region as well as several countries outside Iran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the execution Sunday in a statement on his website, saying al-Nimr "neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism."

Ancient rivalry
War of words and finger pointing.

Don't for a second think this is just a flash in the pan event and not much will come of it. This has been brewing for a very long time with neither side interested in backing down nor coming to any sort of negotiated understanding, National pride, Racial identity and regional prestige just to name a few of the contributing factors with, once again, regional stability hanging in the balance.

Riyadh vs Tehran, Arab vs Persian, Shiite vs Sunni, call it what you will. Covert and Overt actions, reactions followed by retaliations on both sides will in my opinion not only increase regionally but will spill over across a much wider area of Islamic influence.

Doom porn?

I dunno, maybe, but we've seen repeatedly throughout history that all it usually takes to set off a major confrontation is lack of open communication and for one side or the other to take threats seriously enough to attempt some sort of preemptive strike...

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard also lashed out at Saudi Arabia Sunday. They compared the executions to attacks carried out by the Islamic State. The Guard said in a statement that Saudi Arabia’s “medieval act of savagery” in putting al-Nimir death will lead to the “downfall” of the monarchy.

The Guard promised “harsh revenge” against the Saudi royals for the execution, according to Reuters.

gulp....

A former Iraqi PM has weighed in on the execution

Nimr al-Nimr execution: Former Iraq PM al-Maliki says death will 'topple Saudi regime'

The former prime minister of Iraq, Nuri al-Maliki, has said that the execution of the prominent Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia will be the downfall of the Gulf kingdom's government. Mr al-Maliki, who was prime minister of Iraq between 2006 and 2014, said in a statement that his countrymen "strongly condemn these detestable sectarian practices and affirm that the crime of executing Sheikh al-Nimr will topple the Saudi regime as the crime of executing the martyr al-Sadr did to Saddam," referencing the death of another prominent cleric in Iraq in 1980.

www.independent.co.uk... -a6793761.html (won't link right for some reason)

This as you said could be the spark to ignite a multi nation conflict. As far as I am aware Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr has only championed peaceful reform in Saudi but was charged under the guise of terrorism and executed.

Saudi Arabia is desperate for a major war, in fact the entire world elite want world war 3 to explode during 2016.

This way, they can successfully divert the peasants anger away from them to other foreign peasants.

Standard divide and conquer tactics. It will be interesting to see if the elite have got the balls to allow this storm in a tea cup to go nuclear now.

a reply to: Rapha

Good point but at the same time there are so many people around the world now waiting to take advantage of a war situation that no one can predict what may happen. Like US citizens blowing up fuel depots in USA.. Things like that.
This is getting way too hot for my comfort.

I can't really imagine a worse scenario for people to want to fight each other.

I hold onto hope. but it really only takes a few countries deciding to go all in, and there's no stopping it.

The sauds expected Assad to be out by now, and they have their own issues without creating more. Man...

a reply to: SLAYER69

Lets just hope this does not go beyond protests against each others Embassies.

The thought of a nuclear - reactive middle east is too frightening to consider ...

Thanks for the thread.

You know, we're allies with S. Arabia...but I get the feeling we don't really want to be allies. We're nice to them due to their oil.

Why?

The petrodollar.

Super simplified: Oil is used in nearly everything. Plastics, dyes...it's everywhere. To buy oil you need USD (nearly most of the time). This means countries have to have US dollars. This props up the value of the US dollar.

The M.E. is where a lot of people get their oil, Saudi being one of the biggest. We want them to keep producing oil and selling it in US dollars, to keep our currency valuable.

This is a very, very "big picture" kind of way of seeing it. Also, Saudi Arabia is a convinient boogyman/terrorist maker. They spit out radical terrorists that we can then spend fortunes on to kill, using all kinds of bombs and tech that the M.I.C (military industrial complex) makes.

So, Saudi Arabia has had the US by the groin so-to-speak for a while now, and I'm sure a lot of US politicians and think-tank types hate this fact.

But you know who else has a ton of oil? Iran. Yep, they sure do...

Perhaps we've been cozying up to Iran for a long-term plan to swap M.E. allies? If Iran takes on Saudi Arabia and topples them, Iran will be the dominant power. If we renew our relationship with Iran, we might be able to cut a better deal on OUR terms for looking the other way as they kicked Saudi ass for us.

That's how these shady back-channel things work. We have layers and layers of behind the scenes "unofficial" diplomatic agreements being made through 3'rd party channels like Google and other private companies.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

you explained that perfectly.
I keep trying to make people see it.

Also the worlds largest exporter of fuels is....

USA..
Second Russia
Third Saudi Arabia

Some people don't know that little tidbit.

I've been waiting to see when the sauds get thrown under the bus and the best way to do it is to not even do it just let it happen.

to add to what you said the only countries that tried to sell oil or gas or things like this outside the US dollar have been bitch slapped. mild term. More like destroyed. unless they are strong enough like Russia for instance. but you look at Iraq and Libya and Syria.. yea..

Europe is less and less keen on relying on US "allies" to provide oil and gas.. Iran comes into the picture. And of course Israel taking the oil that is either theirs or Syrias... And the oil/gas in the ocean that everyone wants claim on over there.. So.. Yea..

This is economic war mixed with religious war mixed with culture war, but the main gangsters are playing it economically mostly.

a reply to: Reverbs

I've been waiting to see when the sauds get thrown under the bus and the best way to do it is to not even do it just let it happen.

Very dangerous to throw a nuclear power with a propensity for violence under the bus. They don't mind lobbing off body parts of their fellow countrymen for petty crimes and beheading peaceful reformers, what would they do if they think the world has turned on them??

a reply to: sosobad

so the best way is to not do it..

They will ask for more help.

At the same time they can't miss the US moving towards Iran as a future better relationship.

You could see Russia and US playing the same games again where Assad was disarmed..

Russia played that perfect and one can wonder if USA wanted the same thing or if it was a curve ball.

Propaganda is way too thick without knowing directly way above top secret info whats really going on.
And for once I don't want to know.

a reply to: Reverbs

Yep, and the way the current climate is inside the USA right now regrarding getting involved in middle east turf wars?

Most Americans wouldn't really want to roll into a Saudi/Iranian spat.

America can just throw up their hands and say, "Hey! We sold you guys a ton of military stuff! You guys have a huge modern army, Americans aren't keen on swooping in, we've had over 10+ years of war on our hands...and Americans aren't loving Muslims right now, ya know?"

Plausible deniability...

This might explain why Israel is so frantic over the Iran deal. They might know we've had CIA and other unofficial assets inside Iran softening them up, getting them ready to become a LOT more American-friendly.

10 years ago I had an Iranian-American professor who still had family in Iran. He told us all how the majority of Iranians were younger (lots of war has taken its toll and the average age there now is fairly young) -- and they all love their MTV, Levi jeans and want to be on better terms with the USA. The problem? The old stodgy clerics that are in charge.

We've been trying for a while to half-heartily help resistance movements and protests in Iran, unofficially.

If we can pull off this flip flop, we'll have a HUGE advantage at the bargaining table. We'll be in the front seat, ready to demand new, more favorable terms from Iran for our non-involvment. This probably scares the hell out of Israel who has spent decades preparing and putting their resources to monitoring Saudi Arabia.

Interesting how these subtle puzzle pieces are coming into focus.

Hey think tanks, you can PM me anytime. I'm not cheap though...

a reply to: sosobad

Saudi Arabia is not a nuclear power.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

One of my best friends some time ago, though he unfriended me.
He was Iranian military.
Me, US Army.

We traded stories.

Our wants in life seemed very similar.
Iranians are so much closer to us than Saudis.
Seems pretty obvious to me.

And some people think Israel and Saudi Arabia run America.

In any case there is no way to be good allies to Iran and Saudi Arabia. It's impossible.
America can say it's just business as usual trying to stabilize the world, but they know.. They have to know.

It shouldn't be lost on people that Saudi Arabia and Israel do many secret dealings.

originally posted by: HardBoiled
a reply to: sosobad

Saudi Arabia is not a nuclear power.

Quite right, I stand corrected

They are considering working towards it if Iran gets one. I dunno why I thought they already had one

Now I get it.

Another opportunity for the US to get someone to war agist Iran, like Iraq vs. Iran, chapter two.

Are the Suads done wiping out Yemen at the behest of the US, yet?

You know there have been rumours that ISIS has threatened to blow up the Cube of Mecca.

If that happens, it will be 'wow; is ISIS that suicidal ?'

So if Iran nukes the Cube and ISIS gets the blame - sht - things really will heat up - big time.

a reply to: Rapha

Is ISIS known to have nukes?

Or Iran for that matter?

a reply to: MystikMushroom

And some of you all act like seriptious activity is nefarious, or somehow outside the strategy of war and national interests, and here we are discussing how perhaps it's a good thing or could be a good thing.

a reply to: TechniXcality

I think it's a good thing personally.

In fact it's the one thing that has surprised me and made me slightly happy in global politics.

That and Russia disarming Assad and also just how it's all working makes me see some hope.

And on top Iran seems to be cooperating on nuclear talks. With Russia's help.

originally posted by: HardBoiled
Is ISIS known to have nukes?

Or Iran for that matter?

Iran had nukes many years ago given to them by Pakistan according to a Russian General.
www.washingtontimes.com...

Who knows what the USA left behind in Iraq for ISIS to pick-up for free ?

The elite are desperate for World War 3. Nuking the Cube of Mecca, which BTW Putin threatened to nuke not long ago, is a very easy way to divert the masses hatred away from the hawk politicians and banksters.