Saudi king ‘repeatedly requested’ US attack Iran: WikiLeaks documents

Washington : Included in 250,000 documents being released by WikiLeaks this week was a secret diplomatic cable that indicated Saudi King Abdullah had urged the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, to use force to stop Iran’s nuclear program.

According to the document, Abdullah repeatedly requested that the US attack Iran. Other leaked documents also described how other Arab countries pushed for military action.

One cable said the Saudi king “frequently exhorted the US to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program,” the British newspaper Guardian reported.

The Saudi Ambassador to the US, Adel al-Jubeir, recalled in April 2008, “[Abdullah] told you [Americans] to cut off the head of the snake.”

Al-Jubeir added “that working with the US to roll back Iranian influence in Iraq is a strategic priority for the King and his government.”

Guardian noted that the “cables also highlight Israel’s anxiety to preserve its regional nuclear monopoly, its readiness to go it alone against Iran — and its unstinting attempts to influence American policy.”

In June 2009, Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak estimated that there was a window “between six and 18 months from now in which stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons might still be viable,” one cable claimed.

After that window, “any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage,” Barak said.