The Saudis are in a Hole, and Keep Digging the Foundation for Terrorism

Saudi Arabia has extended its support for Islamic extremism from Wahhabi ideology to militancy, leading to chaos and terrorism across the world, Dr. Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, told Sputnik.

Saudi Arabia is complicit in terrorism because its fanatical Wahhabism provides the ideological basis for Daesh, al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda affiliates, most of whom have at some point received funding from the Saudi regime, Dr. Mohammad Marandi, professor of North American Studies at the University of Tehran, told Radio Sputnik.

​“The feeling in Tehran is that the Saudi regime is digging itself deeper and deeper into a hole, and the situation is even worse than that of the Turkish government,” said Marandi.

He said that the controversial mass execution carried out by the Saudi authorities on January 1 is a sign of their increasing extremism, in addition to decades of funding for terrorism.

“The mass execution that took place a couple of days ago [was a sign of this extremism], especially the execution of a high-ranking religious figure who was both peaceful, and who never used arms or possessed arms. He basically criticised the Wahhabi ideology, which believes in the notion that anyone that does not think as they do is an enemy of religion and an enemy of God and can be killed, which is something we’ve seen in Saudi schoolbooks.”

“So from the Iranian perspective the Saudis are becoming more and more radical and more and more unpredictable.”

Although governments and media in many parts of the world are beginning to recognize the destructive nature of the Saudi regime and Wahhabism, and the associated actions of the Saudis and Turks in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the other countries, Marandi said that the US uptake is slower, and doubts a real change in their foreign policy.

While China, India, Russia and the European countries have expressed concern about the global threat of Saudi-sponsored extremism, the US, unfortunately, seems intent on supporting Riyadh. The professor gave the example of the aftermath of the death of Jaysh al-Islam Zahran Alloush in a Syrian airstrike last month, and the shared concerns expressed by the US and Saudi Arabia.

“The Americans and the Saudis both expressed regret that this al-Qaeda affiliate, who praised Osama bin Laden, and who called for the killing of minorities, Alloush, the head of the Jaysh al-Islam organization, they expressed regret for his death. So America and the Saudis are still bound together in the support of extremism, which is linked to their regional agenda,” said Marandi.