“The efforts to equip Saudi Arabia and some other Arab states of the Persian Gulf with the world’s most advanced military gear are in line with the protection of the interests of the hegemonic system and their insatiable thirst for looting the energy resources of the Persian Gulf,” the Mehr news agency quoted the deputy director of Iran’s Armed Forces Joint Staff, Brigadier General Masud Jazayeri, as saying Saturday
The West seeks to spread Iranophobia among Persian Gulf Arab states with the aim of selling its arms to these countries so it can partly recover its bankrupt economy, the Pasdar officer said.
Berlin has agreed to sell 200 Leopard-2s—Germany’s main battle tank—to Riyadh for a multi-billion-dollar sum. The German opposition parties and even some members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition have criticized the deal, particularly in light of the popular uprisings in the Middle East.
Jazayeri argued that Saudi Arabia fears a popular revolution inside the country and needs such military equipment to quash anti-regime movements, but seeks to distract attention by claiming the arms are aimed at countering foreign, read Iranian, threats.
“The revolutionary developments across the region indicate that this state-of-the-art military equipment is a legacy to be enjoyed by revolutionaries in near future,” he said, in a very undiplomatic prediction that the Saudi regime would soon fall.
