Iran is said to be in the process of launching an attack on Saudi Arabia and Iraq to divert attention from the internal protests that have been shaking the regime since September.
The threat, according to the Wall Street Journal exclusively, was shared by Saudi intelligence sources with American intelligence and immediately raised the level of military alert in the region, with the White House saying "concerned" and "ready to respond" to Tehran.
For the Saudi services in Tehran's sights there would be targets in the kingdom and in Erbil, already the target of Iranian drone and ballistic missile attacks at the end of September.
One of these had been intercepted and shot down by an American fighter before it could hit US troops stationed in the Iraqi city area.
A threat deemed credible by the American services and other countries in the area, which immediately raised the level of alert for their military forces.
"We are concerned about the overall picture and remain in constant contact with the Saudis through military and intelligence channels," said a spokesman for the US National Security Council, stressing that the United States "will not hesitate to act in defense of our interests and partner in the region ".
On the other hand, it would not be the first time that Tehran threatens an attack.
Iranian authorities have publicly accused Saudi Arabia, the United States and Israel of instigating the demonstrations after Mahsa Amini's death and the violent repression that has since claimed hundreds of lives.
And last month the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, General Hossein Salami,
The latest warning comes, however, at a time when tension between Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States has escalated in light of Tehran's increasingly clear involvement with Russia in the war in Ukraine.
Just in these hours, the spokesman for American national security, John Kirby, expressed the concern of the Biden administration that, in addition to drones, Iran may soon supply Moscow with ground-to-ground missiles, thus contributing to the massacre of the Ukrainian people. and the destruction of civilian targets.
And even in the most delicate period in relations between Riyadh and Washington, with the American president who announced that he wanted to "review" them after OPEC + 's decision to cut oil production.
In the face of the imminent Iranian attack, however, the United States is unlikely to abandon Saudi Arabia, not least to avoid jeopardizing Washington's counter-terrorism operations, more general efforts to contain Iran and the plan to greater integration of Israel into the region.
