Unsurprisingly, Saudi Arabia’s Politicians and Media Love Trump’s Tough Talk on Iran · Global Voices
Mohammed Al Nemer

Image used by Saudi Twitter users showing Donald Trump and Hassan Rouhani. Source: Twitter
Donald Trump's administration announced on February 3, 2017, that it will put new sanctions against individuals and organizations who it says are “supporters of Iran’s ballistic missile program and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Qods Force” following the country's test launch of a ballistic missile.
Not long before, Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman had a telephone conversation in which they affirmed the “depth and durability of the strategic relations between the two countries”, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. In the call, the White House also stressed the “importance of rigorously enforcing” the nuclear deal with Iran — the landmark agreement between Iran and six world powers on scaling back Iran's nuclear program — as well as “addressing Iran’s destabilizing regional activities”.
Iran has offered support to Syria's embattled Bashar al-Assad and certain groups throughout the region, which has led Saudi Arabian officials to accuse Iran of sponsoring terrorism. Predictably, the statement made no mention of Saudi Arabia's own actions, notably its military intervention in Yemen or the groups it itself has funded.
In this context, many Saudis took to social media to celebrate the new sanctions against Iran with the hashtag #TrumpWarnsIranianTerrorism, which trended in Saudi Arabia on February 4.
It's not too shocking that Trump's hardline on Iran would find support in Saudi Arabia, which has a frosty relationship with Iran. The two countries severed diplomatic relations in January 2016 after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric and angry Iranian crowds overran Saudi diplomatic missions, but the animosity has a long history.
And Saudi Arabia is traditionally an ally of the US. Many have speculated that the friendly relationship won't be changing anytime soon, given Trump has business ties in the country.
What this story also reveals is how Saudi media is generally speaking positively about the Trump administration's foreign policy regarding Iran. A January 2017 statement by the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir at a news conference in Riyadh read:
We are very very optimistic about Trump Administration. And on working closely with it to deal with the many challenges, not only in our region, but in the world. I say what I say about our positive outlook because we have had contact with Trump Administration, and we feel very positively about it.
This sentiment is being echoed by Saudi elites. Saudi commentator and general manager of Al-Arabiya television Abdulrahman Al-Rashed wrote that:
Trump’s administration considered Iran as part of the problem while the previous administration insisted that Iran was part of the solution. All these are significant developments that aim to end chaos in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Iraq and unite powers to chase and combat terrorist groups.
The Saudi Twitter campaign to “thank” Trump via the hashtag was first launched by Turki Al-Dakhil, the general manager of Al Arabiya Television News Network in Dubai, who called on people to “tweet under this hashtag in English to thank Trump for confronting Iranian terrorism”.
غردوا تحت هذا الهاشتاق بالانجليزي لشكر ترمب على مواجهته للارهاب الايراني #TrumpWarnsIranianTerrorism
— #تركي_الدخيل (@TurkiAldakhil) 4 février 2017
Tweet under this hashtag in English to thank Trump for confronting Iranian terrorism.
Another Saudi journalist and sport TV host, Waleed Al-Farraj, said Trump is “putting Iran on fire”:
#ترامب داخل حامي على ايران ، شاركونا في هذا الهاشتاق لتشجيع سياسته الحازمه مع تلك العصابه التي تهدد الخليج #TrumpWarnsIranianTerrorism pic.twitter.com/eotMY0rb1u
— وليد_الفراج# (@waleedalfarraj) 4 février 2017
Trump is putting Iran on fire, join us in this hashtag to encourage assertive policy with the gang that threatens the Gulf
And here are some reactions by other Twitter users in Saudi Arabia:
@realDonaldTrump
This is brilliant, you started your presidency fighting the Iranian terrorist threat. ??#TrumpWarnsIranianTerrorism
— عبدالمجيد السعيد (@mjeed_alsaeed) 7 février 2017
Obama lifted sanctions, and Irans proxies got a raise. Not anymore ! #TrumpWarnsIranianTerrorism pic.twitter.com/TlwNRu47x4
— Yousef Al Naimi (@YousefAlNaimi) 4 février 2017
#TrumpWarnsIranianTerrorism
ألف شكر سيادة الرئيس ترامب لتحذيركم ايران بسبب نشاطاتها الإرهابية
Thank you MR: Trump ?@realDonaldTrump
— موجز الأخبار (@KSA24) 4 février 2017
Thank you Mr. President Trump for warning Iran because of its terrorist activities
#TrumpWarnsIranianTerrorism#ما_هو_حلمك_في_كلمتين
Mr. Trump will end the Iranian terrorist expansionism in the world, and will bring peace pic.twitter.com/FR8bqXMv8F
— 500k طفيشآن (@6fshan011) 5 février 2017
WARNING: ⚠️
Your time has been ending #Iran
It's time for a peaceful world! ?#TrumpWarnsIranianTerrorism#nflhonors pic.twitter.com/Paph8UDOku
— م. خالد المانع (@KhaledHas7) 5 février 2017
Saudi daily Okaz featured “Trump: Iran is number one terrorism” as its headline for February 5, 2017:
#عكاظ.. الصفحة الأولى لعدد الثلاثاء الموافق 10 / 5 / 1438 هـ https://t.co/hiZirp74eV@OKAZ_online pic.twitter.com/ywetpUezkA
— صحيفة عكاظ (@OKAZ_online) 6 février 2017
Tariq Alhomayed, the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, suggested that this represents “a new stage”:
This new stage means the turning over of Obama’s page filled with hesitancy and weakness. It is the start of Trump’s resolute times, in which a man rather rises up to a confrontation, which can cost Iran, even if the pay is in economic terms.
But not all Saudis believe that Trump's anti-Iran rhetoric represents a change in US policy. Abdulaziz Al-Suwayed, a Saudi writer at major pan-Arab daily newspaper Al-Hayat, argued in an article that the Trump administration's threats against Iran are nothing new in US foreign policy:
تقوم الإدارة الأميركية بحملة إعلامية ضد نظام الملالي في إيران، وهي لم تخرج عن دائرة تصريحات الرئيس ومساعدين له يرددون كلامه، أما العقوبات التي فرضت على شركات مرتبطة بإيران فليست إجراء جديداً. الإدارة الأميركية السابقة فعلت الشيء ذاته بالتدريج، وباليد الأخرى منحت إيران مئات الملايين من الدولارات، وتخادمت معها في العراق، وأعلت من شأن عميلها في اليمن.
The new administration's campaigns against the Mullahs's regime in Iran [term widely use in Saudi media to describe the Iranian government] are nothing more than mere statements by the president and the advisers repeating after him. As for the new sanctions imposed on companies linked to Iran, they are nothing new. The previous administration did the same gradually, but on the other hand was giving Iran hundreds of millions of dollars, and also cooperated in Iraq which gave rise up to its operations in Yemen.
And beyond the warmongering rhetoric that seems to be dominating in elite sectors of Saudi society, many Saudis are actually expressing concerns of what escalating tensions would mean for everyone in the region.
Saudi radio host Iman Al Hammoud shared Trump's statement made during his presidential campaign saying that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf rely on the US for their existence, commenting:
عموماً هذه تصريحات السيد ترامب خلال حملته الانتخابية .. ولا احد يعلم مالذي ينتظر المنطقة على يديه !! ?????? pic.twitter.com/C45FLDvlkN
— ايمان الحمود (@imankais1) 5 février 2017
No one knows what is the outcome of his [Trump] policy on the region.
Faris Al Jurbua warned that in the worst case scenario, a war with Iran will devastate the region:
ايران تعيش معنا في نفس المنطقة الحرب عليها يعني الخراب لنا جميعا، الدمار لا يتحدث العربية فقط الدمار لا لغة له
#TrumpWarnsIranianTerrorism
— فارس الجربوع (@Farisalialj) 4 février 2017
We live in the same region with Iran, any war on Iran means we all going to be devastated; devastation does not only speak Arabic, it does not have a language.