WikiLeaks Documents: From Attaollah Mohajerani to Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia

A portion of the numerous documents recently released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks from internal communications of the Saudi diplomatic corps reveals the deep tensions between the country and the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as Saudi Arabia's efforts to 'stir unrest in Iran.' Julian Assange, the head of WikiLeaks, published the first part of the documents obtained from Saudi diplomats last Friday, with an estimated 1,300 documents concerning Iran, depicting Saudi Arabia's policies in recent years regarding Iran. According to the Wall Street Journal, the review of these documents indicates that Saudi Arabia has a deliberate intention to continue hostility towards Iran and 'pour oil on the fire of social discontent in Iran.' The Wall Street Journal highlighted the proposals made by the Saudi ambassador in Tehran to the Riyadh government regarding emphasizing Iran's internal crises and aiding some Iranian activists and opposition forces, underscoring the systematic efforts of the Saudis in this regard. Based on this report, the Saudi ambassador in Tehran emphasized the necessity of supporting satellite networks and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to exploit the political and social grievances of the Iranian people, especially among the youth against the Islamic Republic. High-level internal Saudi communications also mentioned the establishment of a satellite television network financially supported by Saudi Arabia as another strategy to counter Iran. The report also noted Saudi Arabia's guidance to its embassies worldwide to monitor contacts between Iran and Shiites in various countries. Additionally, imposing restrictions on the Iranian diplomatic staff in Saudi Arabia was another strategy employed by the Saudis to monitor Iranian representatives and obstruct their activities. Regarding Attaollah Mohajerani's son, one of the leaked documents claims that Saudi Arabia expressed readiness to cover the tuition costs for Ali Mohajerani, the son of Attaollah Mohajerani, the former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, at a university in the UK, along with covering his living expenses during his studies. Attaollah Mohajerani stated in an interview with the BBC that he would provide information on this matter at an appropriate time. In this regard, the newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, wrote on June 21 that 'one of the published documents shows that the Saudi embassy in London covered the tuition for Attaollah Mohajerani's son, the Minister of Culture and Guidance during the reformist government. This document, dated October 10, 2011, covers over £12,000 for each academic year and approximately £4,000 for the living expenses of Attaollah Mohajerani's son.' In one of the documents, it was also claimed that 'an Iranian doctor' requested financial assistance for his candidacy in the Iranian presidential elections during a meeting with an American official; according to 'Khabar Online,' Ali Akbar Velayati's office strongly denied any connection of the Iranian leader's international advisor with this document. The Associated Press, following its investigations of these thousands of documents originally in Arabic, reported that one of these 'top-secret' Saudi documents identified Iran as the perpetrator of an airstrike with bombers in 'Haqliq' in the newly independent country of South Sudan during the unrest of 2012 in this oil-rich region. According to the Associated Press, the Saudis expressed deep dissatisfaction with the exchange of 'affectionate' messages between Iran and the US and the possibility of rapprochement between the two countries due to the signing of the nuclear agreement, closely monitoring this process with great concern. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing investigations conducted by the Associated Press from the mentioned documents, reported that in one of the documents, Saudi Arabia expressed dissatisfaction that the United Arab Emirates 'is helping Iran and Russia to circumvent the imposed sanctions.' According to the Associated Press, another document referred to 'the readiness of the Gulf emirates to pay ten billion dollars to Egypt for the release of Hosni Mubarak, the former president of that country.' Some of these internal Saudi documents also refer to the 'lavish lifestyle' of Saudi princes. Based on the Associated Press's examination of these documents, the shirking of responsibility by Princess Maha Al-Ibrahim, the wife of a member of the Saudi royal family, for paying a one and a half million Swiss franc bill for renting her luxury limousine during a trip to Switzerland and her request to Saudi diplomats in Switzerland to 'address' this issue is just a glimpse of the extravagant behaviors of Saudi princes, especially during their foreign trips. One official from a limousine service company in Switzerland told the Associated Press that he clearly remembers this case and mentioned a 'figure far beyond' one and a half million Swiss francs, which 'was paid down to the last franc.' The mentioned amount is about one million seven hundred thousand US dollars, which, according to this official, renting luxury cars in Switzerland is a 'common occurrence' in the bad history of hotels with wealthy Arab families. WikiLeaks stated that of the approximately half a million documents it has obtained regarding Saudi Arabia, only 60,000 documents have been published in recent days, and further sections of these documents will be released in subsequent stages. Saudi Arabia has urged its citizens not to pay attention to these 'false documents' and to refrain from attempting to study them on the internet. The disclosure of these documents comes amid the ongoing war crisis in Yemen, in which Saudi Arabia has become one of the main parties. The documents were apparently provided to WikiLeaks by a group calling itself the 'Cyber Army of Yemen.' The Saudi Foreign Ministry confirmed last month that its archive of documents had been hacked and attributed it to opponents in Yemen. The Fars News Agency in Iran claimed on Sunday, June 21, that the 'Cyber Army of Yemen' had provided these documents 'in full' to this news agency as well.