Financial Times carries this report about Saudi anger over Iran’s activities in Lebanon, calling its support of Hezbollah tantamount to supporting a coup d’etat. I’m amused that the Iranian president could claim that Iran was “the only country not interfering in Lebanon”. It’s been interfering in Lebanon since the early 1980s and shows no sign of changing its way…

Saudis accuse Iran of Lebanon ‘coup’
Andrew England

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday described Hizbollah’s military actions in Lebanon as a coup backed by Iran, illustrating the regional tensions the Lebanese crisis threatens to exacerbate.

In the strongest comments yet from the kingdom in relation to the crisis in Lebanon, Saud al-Feisal, the foreign minister, said Saudi Arabia was gravely concerned by the events and called on “all regional sides to respect the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon”, in a reference to Iran and Syria.

“For Iran to back the coup that happened in Lebanon and support it will have an impact on its relations with all Arab countries,” he said.

Saudi Arabia, one of the Middle East’s Sunni powerhouses, is a strong backer of the beleaguered pro-western government of Fouad Siniora, the prime minister, and has sought to counter Shia Iran’s growing influence in the region.

Syria and Iran back Hizbollah, the Shia militant group whose fighters took over west Beirut and sealed off the airport and main roads last week. Its gunmen and those of its opposition allies also clashed with pro-government loyalists in Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city, the Bekka Valley and the mountains east of Beirut.

The violence in the last week has left more than 80 people dead.

Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran’s president, reacted to Prince Feisal’s comments by saying they were “made in anger” and that Iran was “the only country not interfering in Lebanon”.
…