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How Iran broke silence over Khashoggi case

SHAFAQNA- After 3 weeks of wisely silence in the unfolding international crisis over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Iranian officials finally reacted to the Saudi journalist’s case.

Brutal killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul created a wave of reactions against Saudi young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s suppressive policies.

Despite early denials, worldwide reactions finally forced the Saudi rulers on October 20th to acknowledge the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman policies.

World leaders have called on the Saudi government to provide more concrete answers on his death amid a global outcry.

But Iranian officials largely refrained from commenting publicly on the death and purported dismemberment at the hands of Saudi agents of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and conspicuous critic of the Saudi government.

The Iranian media have vastly covered the issue, though.

But analysts cite a number of reasons why Iran spent weeks watching quietly over murdering the Saudi journalist.

Iran is basking in the fact that new US-Saudi tensions for the moment have de-centered the Iran threat”, wrote Kaveh Afrasiabi on Lobe Log.

“Saudi Arabia now faces a serious backlash in the international community leading to a boycott of the much-anticipated ‘Davos in Desert’ economic summit. Tehran is calculating the extent of the damage, its longevity, and the direct and indirect ramifications for Iran and the broader region,” he continued.

Intent on not giving any excuses to the other side to refocus attention on Tehran, Iranian officials have been tight-lipped about the Khashoggi “affair.” Neither the foreign ministry nor the office of the president has released an official statement by October 22.

“At a time when Saudi Arabia already faces increased regional and international pressure, even from [U.S. President Donald] Trump, [Iran] doesn’t see any reason to interfere in this issue,” Hossein Alizadeh, a former Iranian diplomat and a researcher at the Peace Research Institute of the University of Tampare, in Finland, told RFE/RL.

“The Islamic republic [of Iran] and Saudi Arabia are already at the peak of tensions in their [mutual] relations, and Tehran probably feels that if it focuses on this case, when and if Saudi Arabia manages to weather the very serious situation it faces, it could retaliate,” he added.

Alizadeh compared the relative restraint to “quick and strong” Iranian condemnation after the execution by Saudi authorities of leading Shi’ite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr in late 2015 or early 2016, after more than three years in Saudi custody.

If, on the other hand, mounting evidence ends up implicating the crown prince or other senior Saudi officials, the stakes could rise for both sides, and even outside the region.

Tehran-based analyst Ahmad Fateminejad suggested to the semiofficial news agency ISNA recently that Iran had already benefited from the Saudi crisis by doing and saying nothing.

“Just the fact that international public opinion has in the past 20 days focused on the [Khashoggi case] is positive [for Tehran], as it decreases the psychological [pressure] on Iran,” Fateminejad was quoted as saying.

An Iranian political scientist and former lawmaker, Elahe Koulaee, had another suggestion for Tehran. Iranian officials could leverage the fallout against Riyadh from the Khashoggi case by scaling down tensions with the United States — a traditional Saudi ally — in an effort to alter influence in the region, she said.

“By focusing on ‘scientific and cultural’ diplomacy, Iran should rebuild relations with the United States and change the balance of power in the region to its advantage,” Koulaee tweeted, without elaborating.

 

But Iran’s silence was finally broken on October 22 in a speech by the powerful head of Iran’s Judiciary, Sadegh Amoli Larijani, who appears to have become the first senior Iranian to publicly condemn Saudi officials’ suspected role in the killing.

In his remarks, 20 days after Khashoggi was last seen alive entering the Saudi Consulate, Larijani accused Saudi Arabia of “first set[ting] out to cover up this crime with the help of the West and recently, when it was forced to acknowledge it to whitewash its corrupt system, [claiming] that some rogue elements committed this crime.”

Saudis killed Khashoggi with US support: Iran’s Rouhani

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is a big test for the whole world, especially for self-proclaimed defenders of human rights in the U.S. and Europe.

“Nobody assumed that in today’s world we would witness such an organized murder and I do not think a country would dare to commit such a crime without the U.S. support,” he said at a cabinet session.

He added, “It seems that a tribe which is ruling a country enjoys protection and commits such crimes by relying on a superpower which supports them and prevents any international court to hear complaints against them.”

Rouhani also urged the Turkish government to continue “precise” and “unbiased” investigation until all dimensions of the crime are revealed, Tehran Times reported.

Iran FM: Global reaction to Khashoggi’s murder late yet severe

Iran’s Foreign Minister said to Japanese media on Tuesday the international community’s response to the killing of prominent Saudi journalist was late yet severe.

“I believe thorough investigation into the case must be ensured”, NHK broadcasting center quoted Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Zarif noted massive investment made by the United States in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the region is only causing chaos, Ilna reported.

A tweet by former Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdolahian in which he condemned Khashoggi’s murder and expressed condolences to Khashoggi’s family went on to suggest that those responsible for his death were a “new terrorist and neowahabbist,” a reference to an Islamist movement with long ties to the House of Saud. He then warned “Trump’s support to Saudi ‘neoterrorism’ will one day target Washington”.

 

Read more from Shafaqna:

“A total fiasco from day one”: the late interpretation of Trump from Jamal Khashoggi’s murder

Adubisi: Saudi Arabia is incapable of controlling the situation

“Imagine if Iran had, brutally killed khashoggi”

 

 

 

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