Top Iranian general suggests regicide

A top Iranian general has suggested that Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al-Saud  is so “impatient” he may kill his own father to take the throne.

The remark by Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani was made during an event to mourn an Iranian general killed in Syria and in response to a naval drill carried out by Saudi in the Arabian Gulf.

The two countries, currently locked in a proxy war in Syria, are also in dispute over the strategic waterway, which is the only sea passage from the Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world’s most strategically important choke points.

Iran warned Saudi Arabia to stay away from the waters as heavily armed Saudi frogmen and warships took part in the Gulf Shield 1 drill across the waterway, adding to the tensions between the two rival regional powers.

Soleimani, head of the paramilitary force’s expeditionary Quds Force, also alleged that the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia told Syrian officials in a meeting that “if you do not have ties with Iran, everything will end” – apparently meaning that the conflict would end.

Soleimani’s suggestion of regicide is likely to cause further irritation in Saudi Arabia, which saw King Faisal assassinated by his nephew in 1975.