As the nuclear talks with Iran were reaching their conclusion, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told a Bloomberg reporter that the Arab Gulf States and Israel have “no confidence” in the Obama administration when it comes to Iran. Alwaleed even said the Sunnis would “love” to see a strike on Iran by Israel.

Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

Such a scenario would serve to alienate Iran, not Israel. Perhaps that helps to explain why Iran is now reaching out to the Saudis.

Via Reuters:

Iran said on Sunday it wanted stronger cooperation with U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, as it seeks to ease concerns among Gulf Arab neighbors about a potential resurgence in its influence following a nuclear deal with world powers.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, on a tour of Gulf Arab states, said after talks in Kuwait that no date had been set for an expected visit to Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia, Shi’ite Iran’s main regional rival.

But he suggested the nuclear deal reached in Geneva on November 24 should not be seen as a threat.

“This agreement cannot be at the expense of any country in the region,” Zarif, speaking through an interpreter, told reporters at a news conference after discussions with his Kuwaiti counterpart, Sheikh Sabah al-Hamad al-Sabah.

Did you catch that part about Iran’s desire not to see the deal “be at the expense of any country in the region”?

It is then easy to conclude that the only country in the region Iran doesn’t see as a country in the region, is Israel. Consider the words of a powerful Iranian Ayatollah, relayed by former CIA operative Reza Kahlili.

Via the Daily Caller:

“This vicious temperament of dogs and pigs is you (Israel),” said Ayatollah Mohammad Imami Kashani, a member of the Assembly of Experts, the body that appoints the supreme leader, at Tehran’s interim Friday prayer. “The Quran has marked on your foreheads that you will be humiliated. The Zionist officials are like animals, and truly as rogue thugs they do whatever they want, killing people, creating bloodshed and destroying whatever they want.”

Kashani said at this week’s Friday prayers sermon in Tehran that whenever Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears on television, “all of the world hates you. You are hated, humiliated and despicable and,” the ayatollah added in a putrid insult to make to a Jew, “have been immersed in the flesh of rabid dogs and pigs.”

Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani

Of course, while the Sunni / Shiite divide is strong, alliances between the two have been known to take place when engaged in fights with non-Muslims. Sunni Hamas and Shiite Hezbollah have aligned against Israel for years. In 2011, a Federal judge ruled that significant evidence of collaboration between Iran (via Hezbollah) and al-Qaeda implicated both in the 9/11 attacks. Iran’s strategy in this case comes off as an attempt to form similar alliances on a much grander scale.

It is now known that negotiations between the Obama administration and Iran have been taking place behind the scenes for many months – if not years. A desire on the part of the Obama administration to see Israel alienated instead of Iran is not far-fetched either. Why would it help to negotiate such a deal? It’s obvious that the Obama administration would be more than satisfied to have the Gulf states on board with this deal with Israel being its lone detractor.

Israel National News is reporting that Obama administration officials are piling on when it comes to the concerns of Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

Via Arutz Sheva:

Senior officials in the White House have said that Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “is desperate and weak,” in reaction to Netanyahu’s remonstrations against the deal struck with Iran over its nuclear weapons program.

Israeli television Channel 10 quoted the officials as saying “His pronouncements show a lack of self-confidence,” in an unusually harsh personal attack on Netanyahu. “We are not perturbed by his vocal opposition.”

It’s noteworthy that such a portrayal of Netanyahu mirrors almost exactly someone else’s portrayal of Obama. Couple what was allegedly said about Netanyahu by senior White House officials with what said about Obama a little over one week ago.

“There’s no confidence in the Obama administration (on Iran)… He’s (Obama) so wounded. It’s very scary.”

It wasn’t the Prime Minister of Israel who said those things; it was a highly influential Saudi Prince.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal