Khamenei hastened to accept the Saudi offer to negotiate a non-aggression pact, using it as a lifeline and new lever for diplomatic maneuvering. But he insists on Saudi Crown Prince Salman visiting Tehran next month as the condition for continuing negotiations.

The Saudi royal house has set preparations in motion for a US attack on Iran in October. Its military is organizing defenses of government and oil terminals, as well as a counter-offensive if attacked by Iran. A new oil pipeline bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran was rattled by the United Arab Emirates air force war games over the Strait of Hormuz in conjunction with the US and France and Israel’s maneuvers in the Mediterranean. Its rejoinder was a maneuver of its own to practice offensive special operations raids for the first ...

A law annexing the UAR islands of Abu Musa and the two Tunbs is on its way through the Majlis. The row will distract attention from international efforts to curb its nuclear program and support the transformation of the international waterway into Iranian territorial water.

If Iran really can copy the captured US spy drone and plumb its secret codes, this will have far-reaching implications for a potential US or Israel strike against its nuclear sites.

The Saudi force that went into Bahrain Monday, March 14, along with UAE and Kuwaiti units, to stabilize the royal regime is larger than reported, consisting of a National Guard brigade, a mechanized brigade of the Saudi army and a tank battalion – altogether 3,500 men. Until recently close American allies, the two Gulf rulers flouted President Obama's policy of supporting popular uprisings, encouraged by Qaddafi gaining the upper hand against Libya's rebels and Washington's constraints against military intervention.