Espionage cells in Kingdom: The Iranian ‘Fifth Column’
The recent busting of an espionage cell in Saudi Arabia and the unraveling of its schemes reinforced the capabilities of both the Saudi intelligence services and the security forces with regard to effective sharing of information.
It is an achievement that has been materialized on the ground. The credit is due in large part to the Saudi security forces and Saudi intelligence in particular for seizing the first thread of the operation and pursuing it to the very end. This act clearly reveals the mechanism of cooperation between the two agencies, showing the highest level of professionalism.
The case itself unravels a serious and an unprecedented escalation in the relationship between Tehran and Hezbollah on one side and Riyadh on the other despite the fact that the official Saudi statement did not point a finger to a specific country. Yet what is meant given the context and the recent chain of events, in addition to the approach and the method, is clear.
Thus, if Iranian involvement is indeed proven, I personally think that matters will have gone too far that and enough is enough.
The whole issue must be dealt with using a different approach, with an open diplomatic response to say the least.
What exactly is it that Iran wants from Saudi Arabia? It is a well-known fact that Saudi Arabia was, and still is, a political and religious obsession of Iran. Indeed, Iran has resorted to different ways to suffocate the Kingdom, realizing that its expansion plans will not succeed as long as Saudi Arabia goes on exercising its role and wielding influence in both the regional and international arenas.
As a result, the last hope for Iran was to play on the human rights aspect, to exploit this matter and use it for its agenda. To this end, it has been working on sectarian division, trying to exploit the position of the religious and political reference of Arab Shiites in the region.
Iran’s attempt of penetrating the Saudi society aims primarily at undermining and weakening its influence in the region and discounting the Islamic leadership of Saudi Arabia at all costs.
Iran has its own expansionist project. Recent evidence confirms that its cells have been busted in Bahrain, Kuwait and Yemen. It is no wonder, then that Tehran has managed to penetrate into a group of doctors and academics in the Gulf society. Those are important segments that have significant social impact, contacts, social status and financial capacities as well. These segments are no different from the rest of the society as they also serves interests of both sides both the academic world and that of professors throughout the Gulf society.
However, the statement of the Interior Ministry was remarkable in explaining this sensitive issue, as well as its background and facts. The present state of affairs and circumstances leads to this turning point of events, namely that the revelation of all the cards at play points to respecting the intelligence of the Saudi citizen.
It is crucial that Saudi Arabia admits that a “Fifth Column” indeed exists with espionage cells of the enemy. This is pure transparency because, simply said, we are not a society of angels.
“The Fifth Column” is a term that was common during the Cold War era between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. Spies and agents who engaged in espionage activities, gathered military, security and economic information and spread rumors to motivate and stir public opinion, were placed under this category.
Yet other historians have said that this term emerged during the Spanish Civil War, which took place between 1936 to 1939 at a time when Madrid was under siege by right-wing rebels under the leadership of Franco, who turned the table on leftists when they won the elections. One of the generals made a speech to enthuse and mobilize the soldiers. He said that as his four columns of troops approached Madrid, there is a “Fifth Column” of supporters and that the people and proponents of the revolution are helping him undermine the rebels from within. Hence the term was used to describe spies who help the enemies of their country.
That is why it is only natural that the citizens of Gulf countries are so against Iranian violations and breaches, because these actions might drag the whole region into an abyss.
These cells prove that the foreign philosophy of Iran is to send a message to the Gulf states to not open their airspace in the case of an airstrike and to not support sanctions by the international community, despite their well-known stance in the matter.
Some say that the escalation by Iran against Gulf States is already a familiar approach if we look back at the history — except the Khatami era that witnessed a Gulf-Iranian conversion.
Iranian politicians make enemies even if none exists for a strategic reason, namely to make the public believe that they are defending their rights. For their rhetoric to have greater effect internally, they portray their country as being targeted by the West, portraying the country as being blackmailed in terms of its nuclear file in particular.
But Rafsanjani had previously stressed the need to improve relations with Saudi Arabia, revealing at the same time that Iranian officials do not want these relations to improve. He accused Ahmadinejad and his government of complicating matters further and held them responsible for the deterioration of relations at this level in an explicit response to those accusing Saudi Arabia. What Rafsanjani has said puts the ball in the Iranian court, thereby absolving Gulf states of any responsibility.
For its part, Saudi Arabia has not engaged in espionage activity despite its logistic and financial capabilities for the sole reason that it believes in noninterference in the affairs of others.
Saudi Arabia strongly disapproves of Tehran’s ways and approaches to destabilize the country and shake its internal front.
Although Saudi diplomacy always seeks to engage in dialogue and to manage the crisis of differences with openness, it took the initiative and extended its hand to Iran and called on the peaceful handling of the Tehran nuclear program.
The irony is that Tehran policy is completely the opposite, always pouring oil on fire, thus not serving the stability of the region with its provocative statements, its open interference, recruiting agents and funding saboteurs.
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