Saudi King Salman’s meeting on Friday with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was part of an effort by Riyadh to shore up Arab unity in the face of a perceived threat from Iran that it believes has become more urgent since last week’s nuclear deal, reported dawn.Saudi Arabia, a conservative Sunni Muslim monarchy, has grown more aggressive this year in countering Shia, revolutionary Iran across the region, believing its influence to be the main cause of instability and insecurity in Arab states.Riyadh fears the agreement Tehran struck with six world powers to release it from sanctions in return for more intrusive inspections of its atomic facilities will free Iran to increase its support for Saudi Arabia’s enemies in Arab countries.“It’s part of the grand strategy of countering Iranian influence. It’s the main issue for Saudi Arabia and it’s more urgent after the nuclear deal,” said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi analyst close to the Saudi interior ministry.Since Salman became king in January, he has tried to build a Sunni coalition against Iran’s regional allies, boosting support for rebels against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and waging war against Yemen’s Houthi militia. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia has been trying to build its ties with Israel to counter Iran in the region as both the countries precieve Iran a serious threat. Though both the countries do not enjoy diplomatic relations and never have, but on Thursday, the two countries revealed at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington that they’ve been covertly conducting diplomacy to discuss Iran over a series of five meetings since 2014. The reveal came from Anwar Eshki, a former Saudi general and ambassador to the U.S., and Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the UN. While both of them are currently think-tankers, Gold is set to become director-general of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs this weekend, the top position below the foreign minister. Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds that portfolio, Gold will effectively be running the office. Iran’s nuclear deal event isn’t the only sign of some friendliness between Israel and Saudi Arabia. There have been reports about secret collaboration for years, often denied by both governments. A 2009 report said that Saudi Arabia had offered to let Israel fly over Saudi territory to attack Iran, a report Israel knocked down. Another report claimed that Israel had offered its “Iron Dome” missile-defense technology to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen in the proxy battle. A survey released Thursday found that Saudi citizens are far more concerned about Iran than the Zionist state.
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