Saudi writers denounced on Friday Iran’s intransigence over the nuclear issue and expressed doubts over Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent moves.

In a column published in Asharq Al-Awsat, Abdulrahman Al-Rashed wrote “Iran’s fingerprints are everywhere.”

He wrote: “Iran is currently in an offensive state, the likes of which we have not seen in modern history.”

An editorial in Al-Madinah newspaper ridiculed Netanyahu’s insistence that he had traveled to Washington out of concern for Israel’s security and not to boost his prospects ahead of elections later this month.

The editorial said it was ironic that he spoke of Israel’s need for security despite “hundreds of (Israeli) massacres against Palestinians and Arabs over more than six decades.”

An editorial by the Al-Sharq newspaper went so far as to suggest that Netanyahu wants to scuttle the deal in order to allow Iran to get nuclear weapons, “which will not be directed toward Israel, but toward the Arabs, so that Iran can see its project through and achieve what Israel could not.”

But the editorial did note that his assessment that Tehran is expanding was “right.”

Saudi columnist Dawoud Al-Shiryan wrote in Al-Hayat that if Israel was so worried about Iran getting nuclear weapons, “why haven’t they stopped it by force as they always do?”