TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran and Saudi Arabia agree that Muslim nations should be alert to efforts by enemies to divide their ranks, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said after his first official trip to the kingdom, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

Ahmadinejad met Saudi King Abdullah on Saturday after which Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saudi al-Faisal said Sunni Muslim heavyweight Saudi Arabia and predominantly Shi’ite Iran agreed to fight the spread of sectarian strife.

A Saudi official had said the kingdom would seek Iran’s help to prevent tensions in Iraq erupting into full-blown civil war.

“Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are aware of the enemies’ conspiracies, and while condemning these conspiracies, we invite all Muslims to be aware of the enemies’ plans with wisdom,” Ahmadinejad was quoted by Iran’s ISNA news agency as saying.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Iran are among the most influential nations of their respective branches of Islam. U.S.-allied Arab governments fear Iran is gaining influence in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Iraq.

“About the Palestinian and Iraqi issues, we had discussions in detail. In many cases, we had a common point of view. Both countries oppose the enemies’ control over the Islamic region.”
news.yahoo.com

It’s sort of amusing how much news has come out in the past week that seems designed to refute the Seymour Hersh article point for point about Saudi Arabia throwing cash around to deliberately provoke ‘sectarian strife.’ And the Pakistanis similarly encouraging al Qaeda activity in Iran with US blessing (and bucks) while being ceremoniously scolded for not doing enough to fight al Qaeda.

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