Following US President Donald Trump’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia, which featured the signing of a $110 billion arms deal with Riyadh, Iranian officials and prominent figures alike have interpreted the new approach by the White House as an effort to forge an axis or coalition against Iran.

Describing the US arms agreement with Saudi Arabia as “unprecedented,” Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned the Arab states not to forget the fate of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and former Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was toppled in 1979.

Safavi said June 14, “The volume of weapons purchased by the Arab countries — and especially Saudi Arabia — is unusual, and the signing of a $110 billion arms package between the United States and Saudi Arabia and the arms sale will not contribute to the security of southwest Asia, and it will also be used to make the region unsafe and create tension in an area that is the heart of the world's [source of] energy.”

Safavi, who served as commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps between 1997 and 2007, warned, “Before the [Islamic] Revolution [in 1979], the Iranian dictator, the shah, purchased billions of dollars of weapons and equipment form his ally, which was the United States, and [former Iraqi dictator] Saddam [Hussein] attacked Iran [in 1980] with the United States supporting him militarily [and giving him] weapons. The destiny of these two dictators must set an example for some [regional states]. Certainly, history will be repeated at different times and locations.”