Five Areas of 'Tension' with Saudi Arabia Defined by the Head of Civil Defense

The head of Iran's Civil Defense Organization has identified five areas of tension with Saudi Arabia, stating that 'the threat is imminent.' According to Fars News Agency, Gholamreza Jalali mentioned these five areas during a nationwide meeting of commanders in Tehran and provincial centers of the Basij Organization. He believes these areas include two differing perspectives on Islam or ideological-ideological axes, the second being the existence of vulnerable points in Iran where certain Islamic sects, which align more with Salafi extremist thought, reside. The subsequent areas include economic, cyber, and military domains. Jalali referred to Ayatollah Khamenei's comments regarding what he termed proxy wars, stating that the Supreme Leader's directive is a call for preparedness. This military official emphasized the need to be ready for new models of confrontation with Saudi Arabia, adding that 80% of the public calls during the Mahabad incident originated from Saudi Arabia. Jalali's reference to the Mahabad incident pertains to the death of 28-year-old Parinaz Khosravani, where some social media users and news pages reported her death was to prevent 'the assault of an intelligence officer' on her. The publication of this information led to a gathering of people in Mahabad and the burning of the hotel where the incident occurred. Ayatollah Khamenei, on May 19, 2015, during a ceremony at Imam Hossein Military University, spoke about proxy wars, stating: 'I have news that our enemies, with the cooperation of some foolish officials in the Persian Gulf region—not all of them, but some—are seeking to bring proxy wars to the borders of Iran.' However, can the events that occurred within Iran, including the Mahabad incident, also be attributed to external factors based on the issue of proxy wars? Alireza Nourizadeh, a journalist and political analyst residing in London, believes that 'what General Jalali is stating is not far from the propaganda line that the Islamic Republic has been pursuing after the blow in Yemen. For the Islamic Republic, Yemen was a significant and humiliating blow. They imagined, as Mr. Zakani and others have said, that the fourth Arab capital was in their grasp and they were looking at the fifth capital. The statements he makes carry some propaganda weight. Let's not forget that Abdulmalek Rigi was linked to Saudi Arabia. However, the Saudis themselves, when they saw Rigi secretly went to Saudi Arabia for Hajj, ordered his arrest, and the Islamic Republic considers this, but in the propaganda war, everything is permissible. The only fundamental difference the Islamic Republic has with the Saudis is ideological. The rest is a matter of difference. The Islamic Republic claims to be the leader of the Islamic world, while Saudi Arabia also claims to be the leader of the Islamic world.' Meanwhile, the head of the Civil Defense Organization continued his remarks by addressing the United States, stating: 'Today we can say that the Americans are our neighbors in the Persian Gulf.' He continued that, considering the military bases and presence that the Americans have in the Persian Gulf and the possibility of mutual threats, Iran and the U.S. have now become two hostile neighbors facing each other. Jalali added: 'The approach is to understand what the strategies and steps of the U.S. against our country are and what programs they are pursuing.' He further stated that the Basij must be able to create invulnerability in its functions and performance to assist civil defense for the state broadcasting organization.