A personal perspective on Iran’s threat to Saudi Arabia and Israel - opinion

In 2016, when I was on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, I was invited to BBC Newsnight to explain why I supported the Saudi-led coalition of various Gulf states in their bombing campaign against the Houthis. 

The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah (“Supporters of God”), are an armed group that controls most of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, and some of the western and northern areas close to Saudi Arabia. The Houthis emerged in the 1990s and rose to prominence in 2014, when the group rebelled against Yemen’s government, causing it to step down and sparking a crippling humanitarian crisis.

The BBC interviewer, James O’Brien, was so aggressive and confrontational toward me that the YouTube video received over 720,000 views. A problem with the BBC is that in the name of scrutinizing politicians, they allow such interviewers to denigrate those who have the temerity to support our Gulf allies – without explaining to viewers any of the complexity of the situation.

It is interesting, eight years on, to see how the Houthis have ramped up their terrorist activities by regularly attacking international vessels in the Red Sea. This action has pressured the United Kingdom together with the United States into engaging Houthi positions, in an attempt to prevent a major international shipping lane route from being closed off.

What the BBC misses in their reports

What the BBC neither appreciates nor attempts to explain to its viewers is that whether it is the Houthis in Yemen or Hamas in Gaza, most of the problems in the Middle East currently stem from the actions of the mullahs in Tehran.

It is my opinion that, while the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen is not perfect, it remains the best option to restore peace and stability in the region and protect the UK’s national interests and allies.

In 2011, when I was hosting a delegation of 12 members of the Saudi Shura Council at the House of Commons for dinner, news came through that several Middle Eastern states troops had crossed the causeway into Bahrain, in support of the government, as Iranian-funded and equipped extremists had tried to overthrow the king and government. Iran had tried to mobilize the Shia community to overthrow the Sunni king and political establishment of Bahrain. 

Iran has also filled the void that the UK and its allies created with the second invasion of Iraq and now uses its connections across the border with the Shia community, to try to control this country.

In addition, Iran props up the Assad regime in Syria and has sent large numbers of soldiers and military equipment in support of this brutal regime, and to gain access to Lebanon. Iran continues to fund Hezbollah in Lebanon – on the border with Israel – to fire rockets at Israel and wait for an opportunity to attack.

Iran also funds and supplies Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Without this support, it is difficult to see how Hamas could have launched its large-scale invasion of Southern Israel, in October 2023. Iran has supplied the Houthi rebels with Scud missiles, which have been fired at Riyadh on many occasions; and its war with the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis has led to many civilian casualties.

WHEN ONE looks at a map of these Iranian-backed countries, they all surround Saudi Arabia – and it seems beyond doubt that Iran’s long-term plan is to maintain a “noose” around the Saudis, which it can tighten at appropriate moments; or ultimately to use its influence in those countries, to try to launch a full-scale attack on their arch-enemy, Saudi Arabia.

In addition, Iran has a well-known and often-stated intention to destroy Israel and wipe it from the map.

Unfortunately, the UK’s approach to the Middle East has long been haphazard and piecemeal. We need to formulate and enact a long-term strategy that demonstrates our total, unswerving support for both Israel and Saudi Arabia as both nations, in their own different ways, attempt to control and mitigate the growing, malign influence of Iran across the Middle East.

The Abraham Accords were a tremendous breakthrough for Israel. Perhaps one of the reasons for the current war in Gaza is that Iran is using one of its surrogates to try to turn the world against Israel. This must not be allowed to happen and we must always stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Although devastating, the fighting we are currently seeing in Gaza is nothing compared to what would happen in the Middle East if Iran continues to be given the green light to extend its highly irresponsible behavior and continue its policy of producing nuclear weapons.

We should, as always, learn the lessons of history. 

In the 1970s, Thatcher and Reagan rejected the policy of détente, a period of reduced tensions and increased cooperation between the US and the USSR. They rightly believed that the Soviet Union was exploiting détente to expand its influence and military capabilities and that the West needed to adopt a more confrontational and assertive stance to contain and deter the Soviet threat.

More recently, we all have had Israel to thank for bombing and destroying the Osirak Nuclear Facility in Iraq in 1981, which had been supplied by France. 

If Israel had not taken that action, Saddam Hussein’s malign threat would have become even greater.

The time has come for the UK to work with Israel, Saudi Arabia, the US, and other friendly Gulf states to take on Iran, to defeat its belligerent, expansionist agenda through financial sanctions and increased military expenditure and commitment, and, by such action, to make the Middle East a more stable, harmonious region.

The writer is a member of the UK Parliament for Shrewsbury and Atcham.