In its May 22, 2019 editorial, by Sa'dollah Zarei, the Iranian regime mouthpiece Kayhan called for destroying the Saudi regime, terming it a "cancerous growth." Kayhan praised the Iran-backed Shi'ite Houthi Ansar Allah militia's May 14, 2019 drone attack on the Saudi oil pipeline at Yanbu port. Without explicitly claiming that Iran was responsible for the May 12 attack on the oil tankers at the UAE port of Fujairah, the newspaper clarified that the message conveyed by this attack was harm to the U.S., which it said was responsible for security at the port and for the export of oil from it. The newspaper underlined that Iran had learned, from the U.S.'s failure to respond to the attacks on Saudi Arabia and on the UAE, that the U.S. has no desire, or no capability, to support these two countries, and that Iran can therefore continue to instruct the Houthis to escalate and expand its attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia.
Kayhan warned that the Houthis intend to extend their attacks in Saudi Arabia to 300 sensitive sites and military installations in the country, using suicide bomb-drones, with the aim of reducing Saudi oil exports to zero – as Iranian officials recently promised would happen (see MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1452, How Will Iran Prevent The Export Of Oil From The Persian Gulf To World Markets? May 6, 2019, and MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 8062, Editors Of Iranian IRGC-Affiliated Newspapers: Iran Is Behind Fujairah And Yanbu Attacks; Possibility Of Additional Attacks In Red Sea, Golan Heights, May 14, 2019).
The regime mouthpiece also warned of future operations by the Iran-backed Houthi militia, saying that it was capable of launching an attack on the Saudi capital Riyadh with the aim of bringing down the Saudi regime that, Kayhan claimed, funds the U.S. military policy that aims to take control of the region.
The following are the main points of the editorial:
"...The Yemenis [i.e. the Houthis] have announced an attack on sensitive Saudi points deep in Saudi Arabia, [and this] is a new, serious agenda. They say publicly that they intend to expand the [attacks they carried out] from [the two so far] on the two Saudi ports that are 800 and 850 kilometers [respectively] from Yemen's northern border, to [attacks on] no fewer than 300 military and other vital targets in Saudi Arabia.
"In this situation, two points should be noted. First, the Yemeni drones – that fly at low altitude and at the same time trace a long path without being identified and without running out of fuel on this long route – remind Saudi Arabia that the Yemenis have attained a new opportunity and that they are indeed capable of reducing Saudi oil exports to zero.
"In effect, the drones, that can carry missiles and also conserve fuel [so they can complete their mission], and are capable of firing accurately at two Saudi oil [pumping] stations in two ports on the northern Red Sea, have become a nightmare for the leaders of America, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. This was noted by the UAE foreign minister, who said that [these capabilities] are a dangerous development in the Yemen war and more generally in the conflicts in the region...
"The second [point] is that Ansar Allah's [i.e. the Houthis'] attack drones that struck [the oil pumping stations in] Dawadmi and Qatif [sic, in Saudi Arabia, on May 14] can launch a war against Riyadh, because the distance between the two cities is no greater than 230 and 390 kilometers, and the drone campaigns of the Ninth of Ramadan [i.e. May 14, 2019] can operate [also] against Riyadh in the near future...
"The destructive lightning strike on Fujairah port reminded this state's [i.e. the UAE's] top officials, and America, which is responsible for defending this port, and its partner the UAE that exports oil from the port, of the great dangers of continuing the Yemen war ...
"The [Ansar Allah] operations in south Yemen and against the southern districts of Saudi Arabia are considered a strategic development. These operations have shown that Ansar Allah entered into a round of attacks following defensive operations aimed at destroying the Saudi aerial and ground attacks in northern Yemen. Besides that, these operations attest to the failure of the Saudi coalition's military operations in Yemen, and also show that Ansar Allah has the upper hand in this war...
"The passivity of America and of its military apparatus [in response] to the [May] operations at Fujairah and in northwest Saudi Arabia attest to the fact that America cannot defend these two countries [Saudi Arabia and the UAE] and their policy, or that it does not want to continue supporting [them] futilely. In any event, the conditions for continuing this activity will become more complicated for the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
"Now is the chance to nullify the fantastical statement by [U.S. President] Donald Trump that 'it is because of our support that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are standing on their feet.' Everyone must know that America's support cannot guarantee the life of illegitimate and aggressive regimes.
"Now is the time for the relentless attacks [by Ansar Allah], aimed at uprooting the evil Saudi regime from the arena, to continue. Most important is that the financial resource of America's military and controlling policy in the region [i.e. Saudi Arabia] be destroyed.
"Today, this is not only Iran's request; it is a request that has the support of all the nations of the region and most of their governments, whether openly or in secret.
"The Saudi operations over the recent years show that [this country] is the source of producing takfiri terrorists, and a source of securing funds for the Western terrorists. This is why Saudi Arabia is today the most hated [entity] in the region, both religiously and politically, after the Zionist regime.
"Saudi Arabia cannot be fixed because of its tafkiri ideology and its strong dependence on America. Therefore, there must be surgery in our Islamic region to remove this cancerous growth [Saudi Arabia] from it."[1]
[1] Kayhan (Iran), May 22, 2019.
