This refers to the news report “Coalition seizes Iranian boat with arms for Houthis.” (Oct. 1)

Iran has really become a pain in the neck, which if not checked can repeat the large scale military maneuvering on the scale of an eight-year war that it had waged with Iraq.

However this is another story that it will — and I am sure — prove Iran’s ultimate nemesis. Saudi Arabia is not Iraq, which was fighting its own war with hardly anyone on its side. Iraq was in many ways similar to Iran. But Saudi Arabia, without any stretch of doubt, commands respect — in the region, in the Muslim world and in the world in general.

Smuggling a huge cache of weapons into Yemen to urge on Houthi rebels to fight with Saudi Arabia-led Arab coalition is an open declaration of Iran’s intention to pick up a fight. This is unfortunate and this requires the Middle East nations to chalk out a long-term planning to counter this menace.

Any slackening on building up such a policy may in future enable the Arab countries to pay a heavy price.

We observe the shaky nature of the changing dynamics of US foreign policy in its relations with the Arab world, as also Russia’s growing interest in the region bodes ill for times to come. It therefore needs a steady but sure build-up of a careful strategy, both political and military, taking world leaders as well as reputed academicians and experts into confidence.

These are tough times, but crucial now to shape up a future, which must be secure and peaceful.