Trash Talking To The Neighbours

On the 7th of January 2022, General Tangsiri the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Navy) gave a public speech .....

Alireza Tangsiri Trash Talked The Saudis

..... in which he stated that the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia are actually 'Jewish' ...

He added that their conflict with Iran harkens back to 7th century battles between Muslim and 'Jewish' tribes, and not the schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims. His claim was aired on Iran's Bushehr TV, and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). As you might expect from that part of the world, it was made in colourful terms, and florid language and assumed that his listeners understand the allusions.

“We cannot bear to see injustice in a Muslim country that is perpetrated by the Zionists and the seed of the Jews .... These are the very same Jews — and I’d better say Zionists — whose hearts have never aligned with Islam, and even with the Prophet in his time.” 

He went on to attack the USA for the killing of former IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani ...   

“[We cannot bear to see] that Muslims are being slaughtered by people who call themselves Christians but are not. The grudge that the enemies harboured towards Hajj [Qassem] Soleimani resembles their grudge towards *Imam Hussein in Karbala. This grudge still exists."

General Tangsiri then went on to mention other battles, in which he claimed the early (Shia) Muslims fought with local 'Jewish tribes', who he says were only Muslim "by name" i.e The battles were with Sunni Arab's who he thinks were really just Jews pretending to be Muslims. So, he concluded "Are the Saud clan really Muslims? They are the same Jews who were in Arabia back then.”

Of course with his unique understanding of history General Tangsiri strangely seems to have forgotten to mention, that the only reason he is a Muslim toda,y is because his Persian ancestors lost the battles between 633 to 654 AD with the invaders from Arabia, which led to the fall of the Sassanid Empire, as well as the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion, as forced conversions took place. So we might as well conclude that all Iranians are still Zoroastrians.

*Imam Hussein, the son of Ali the first imam and founder of Shia Islam, was killed at the battle of Karbala the point at which Shia and Sunni Islam irrevocably split.