Iran to sue Saudi Arabia over terrorist attacks

Crescent International

Rabi' al-Awwal 21, 1435 2014-01-22

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

Tehran has announced that it plans to sue the Saudi regime for terrorist attacks against Iranian targets in the region. In making the announcement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Tehran had compiled and was continuing to compile evidence that would be presented at appropriate international organizations.

Tehran,

Wednesday January 22, 2014, 00:11 EST

Islamic Iran has announced that it plans to sue the Saudi regime in international organization for terrorist attacks against Tehran. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham made the announcement at her weekly press conference in Tehran yesterday. Iran has been targeted by a terrorist campaign that has now been traced directly to the Saudi regime. It was always known that the Saudi regime sponsors terrorists but in the past these related to terrorist operations against civilians.

Tehran has now compiled enough evidence linking the Saudi regime, especially its intelligence agency led by Bandar bin Sultan, directly to terrorist attacks against Iranian targets in the region. “We aim to legally follow the cases [of recent terrorist attacks] in international organizations. The preliminary arrangements [for legal action against Saudi Arabia] have already been made,” Marzieh Afkham told a news conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

In recent weeks, Iran has been attacked twice. The first and most deadly attack was a twin suicide bombing of its embassy in Beirut on November 19. Iran’s Cultural Attache Ibrahim Ansari and five other embassy staff as well as 20 other people were killed. Again on January 18, Iran’s Commercial Attache in Yemen, Abolqasem Asadi, was gunned down outside the embassy in Sanaa.

“Following the terrorist attack against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s embassy in Lebanon, the proceedings of a [legal] action have started ... We are cooperating with the Lebanese officials to gather details in a bid to provide accurate and authentic documents. The same process is underway for the Yemen’s case,” added Afkham.

The Saudi-financed Abdullah Azzam Brigade claimed responsibility for the November 19 embassy attack in Beirut. DNA tests by Lebanese officials identified the perpetrators and traced them to Sidon. Earlier this month, Majed al-Majed, was found “dead” in a Beirut hospital a few days after his capture. It points to powerful forces that wanted to silence Majed before he revealed information about his close links with Saudi intelligence. It is believed that Majed was a senior member of the Saudi intelligence agency and he took his secrets with him to his grave.

Last week, another Saudi intelligence operative, Jamal Daftar-Dar was captured in Lebanon. He has so far been protected from being killed by pro-Saudi elements in the Lebanese state apparatus. Majed's loss, however, appears to have been a major blow to investigations because he masterminded many terrorist operations across the region from Lebanon, Syria to Iraq.

Despite these setbacks, Iran has compiled enough evidence directly linking the Saudi regime to terrorist attacks. It now intends to take legal action according to the law and to have “a more transparent framework.”

Whether Iran would be able to secure justice from the so-called international organizations, many of them dominated by Western interests, is a moot point. The most that can be expected is to reveal concrete evidence that would embarrass the Saudi regime. It is an illegitimate regime and the people of Saudi Arabia must be supported in their efforts to get rid of this dictatorial and greedy ruling family so that people will have their rights.

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