BAGHDAD — In conjunction with the military maneuvers of the Iranian-backed Shiite Popular Mobilization Units along the Iraqi border with Saudi Arabia on Jan. 4, former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attacked Saudi Arabia from Tehran on Jan. 3, accusing Riyadh of being a source of terrorism and of backing terror groups in the region.
This followed another maneuver by Iranian-Iraqi maritime forces at the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that flows into the Persian Gulf.