The Sauds Read Ahmedinejad the Riot Act

The Arabs are getting a bit nervous and upset with their Persian brethren across the Gulf. Saudi Arabia has evidently read the riot act to Ahmedinejad in recent meetings:

On the 15 British hostages late of the HMS Cornwall:

The Saudi foreign minister . . . said it was "a catastrophe" for Iran to be holding 15 British sailors and marines it had captured on March 23. . . "This is just not the time for them to have a problem like that looming."

On the reality of the US threat to stop the Iranian nuclear program by force:

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah warned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he should not underestimate the US military threat on Iran.

Ahmadinejad met with King Abdullah on March 4 in Riyadh, and publicly the two leaders agreed to fight growing Sunni-Shiite strife in the region.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said that the king meanwhile warned Ahmadinejad to take seriously threats of US military strikes over Iran's refusal to halts its uranium enrichment program. "On the nuclear issue, we warned him: 'Don't play with fire. Don't think the threat [of an American attack on Iran] is a nonexistent threat; think that it's a real threat, maybe even a palpable threat,'" Faisal said in the interview posted on the Newsweek website Friday.

On Iran's meddling in internal affairs of other countries:

Faisal said, adding that his ruler bluntly told Ahmadinejad: "You're interfering in Arab affairs," a reference to Iran's alleged interference in other Middle East countries.

The Saudis also told the Iranians "that their interference in Arab affairs is creating a backlash in the Arab world and in the Muslim world. Other Muslim countries are complaining of [Iranian] interference in internal affairs," Faisal said.

Read the story here. It seems that acting thuggish can only go on for so long before everyone starts to get really annoyed. In this case, its taken 28 years, but still, it seems that the world's collective patience - other then the vile EU (see here) - is running out for Iran.