Iran on i24NEWS report: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain 'unlikely foolish enough' for defense pact with Israel
Iran's ex-defense minister cited as warning that 'strong blows' will follow if Gulf states team up with Israel
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are "unlikely foolish enough" to enter a defense pact with Israel, Iran's former Defense Minister and Expediency Council member Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Wahidi told the Russian RT channel on Wednesday.
The statement came in response to an inquiry about an earlier i24NEWS report on secret talks between the four states on the matter, with Wahidi being the first Iranian official to comment on it.
In his remarks, Wahidi, who is the head of Iran's Supreme National Defense University, declared that the "Zionist entity" was facing multiple crises, including a political one, which forced it to hold four elections in two years.
This vulnerability, he claimed, was what prompted Israel to seek a defense agreement with the Gulf neighbors, who "do not have the capabilities and capacity to confront Iran."
He threatened that "strong blows" will follow if the Gulf states decided to team up with Israel in confronting Iran and accused them of betraying the Palestinian cause.
Previously, sources told i24NEWS that the four states were mulling a defense pact in the face of the "growing Iranian threat" in the region. Indeed, Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz played down the notion, although did not outright deny that preliminary talks had taken place.
Iran's nuclear aspirations and support for regional terrorist groups have long been a point of contention with the three Arab states, two of which -- the UAE and Bahrain -- recently moved to establish formal ties with Israel.