ambassador to saudi arabia. thank you for joining us. i want to get your sense as to why iran might have allegedly gone after the -- gone after the saudi arabian ambassador to the united states? why? >> well, it's very important to understand that the saudis and iranians believe that they are in a mortal battle for supremacy in the united states. the saudis view iran as a threat to their arab world and iran has been insinuating itself into many of the struggles of the middle east in a way that is completely contrary to the saudi national interest and in fact of course to the u.s. national interest. ambassador al jube ooichir, who close friend of mine, is at the forefront of articulating the foreign policy, the saudi policy that iranians are so desperate to counteract and i think he is a target. there is credibility to this story. and the saudis have viewed iran as a threat, not only with the shiite in the eastern province and in bahrain but throughout the entire arab world. >> you just pointed out that al jubeir is a good friend of yours.

it was not nearly as totalitarian as either in its own way, saudi arabia or iran.abia and iran are, i think, quite clearly theocratic totalitarian country, one sunni, one shiite, and that is one of the things that has produced, among other thing, their treatment of women. for these guys, totalitarianism often begins at home, beating their wives, having their daughters' genitals mutilated and a lot of the things that they do, so i do think that there are some similarities between the extraordinarily dictatorial autocratic totalitarian methods in iran today and in saudi arabia, but there are some -- some important differences as well. >> and how -- and how do americans reconcile saudi arabia as our ally in the context you described and iran as the enemy when their fundamental social structure, asset structure, gender structure has more in common in many ways than it -- than different? >> well, for three years and eight months, from '41 to august of '45 in world war ii, we were a close ally and major financial supporter of history's greatest murderer, josef stalin who

and saudi arabia, a chilling effect going on, because the saudis saw the u.s. as supporting the revolutionary movement in egypt and they don't like revolutionary movements going on in this region. >> we will wait and see. thank you very much. >>> thank you very much. we will continue -- wolf blitzer will continue this coverage, very serious story with clearly international implications, "the situation room with wolf blitzer" starts right now. >> brooke, thanks very much. >>> happening now, breaking news. an alleged iranian plot to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the united states. two men now charged. one is due in court this hour. >>> we're also following reaction this hour from tehran to riyadh to the white house and beyond. our correspondents around the world are standing by. and the united states is vowing to hold inner accountable, but how? we're working all angles of this major breaking news story right now. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." we're also awaiting a statement by the secretary of state hillary clinton. she's about to make

and usually, an announcement of this nature is made first in saudi arabia by verses being read out onndication that the saudis are getting ready to announce, these core rannic verses are being played. that is what happened when saudi, the previous king died in 2005. then some sort of announcement made on the saudi press agency then you will see people come on television and start talking about t then there will be an official mourning period announced. typically that is three days to a week after announcement of the passing of the figure. we expect that within the next few hours, there will be some sort of official announcement. it is interesting in this day and age when there's so much out there as far as social media and people in saudi arabia and people in the arab world tweeting about this saying that they have heard this and there is still no response from the saudis, but again, this is typical from the saudi perspective this is usually how they behave when this comes to this they will do this according to their timeline, make the announcement the way they want to make that annou

forces in saudi arabia in 1995.he same group from the irgs, the revolutionary guards wouldn't take such a dramatic step of what peter king called a potential act of war without assuming they had the approval at the top. so i would switch the burden of proof in this case not to be skeptical about it, but to assume the supreme leader would have in some way authorized his people to continue this covert war against saudi arabia through this method and crazy scheme involving the dea informant. >> what about the revolutionary guards, i know the numbers are all over. we've done reports between 30 and 80% of the economy is controlled by them. that's a big range. you can get numbers all over the map. the first thing the u.s. has done, fran, is to come out and increase sanctions. we already had a lot of sanctions. is that the best we can come up with? >> well, i think you also heard secretary clinton in her statement indicate that they're going to the u.n. security council. they've not called an emergency meetings. they're br

saudi arabia expressing appreciation to the u.s. for stopping the plot to kill its ambassador. ad is there tonight. how does this help u.s./saudi relations? >> the u.s. saudi relationship has deteriorated lately. the leadership maintain their key alliance is strong. analysts have been saying the saudis have been upset with the obama administration ever since it distanced itself from hosni mubarak. they saw that as leading directly to his ouster. the saudi family felt threatened by the uprisings of the arab spring. today with the saudis showing how grateful they are to the u.s. for their actions that helps repair any damage to this relationship moving forward. >> thank you. >>> next to iran, an aide to iran's president denies the country was involved in the plt plot to kill the ambassador. reza, what else did mahmoud ahmadinejad's adviser say? >> it is a children's story. that's what the spokesperson for iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad is calling the allegations by the u.s. justice department against iran. the iranny president said it is a fab fabrication to distract the am

saudi arabia expressing appreciation to the u.s. for stopping the plot to kill its ambassador. udi relationship has deteriorated lately. the leadership maintain their key alliance is strong. analysts have been saying the saudis have been upset with the obama administration ever since it distanced itself from hosni mubarak. they saw that as leading directly to his ouster. the saudi family felt threatened by the uprisings of the arab spring. today with the saudis showing how grateful they are to the u.s. for their actions that helps repair any damage to this relationship moving forward. >> thank you. >>> next to iran, an aide to iran's president denies the country was involved in the plt plot to kill the ambassador. reza, what else did mahmoud ahmadinejad's adviser say? >> it is a children's story. that's what the spokesperson for iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad is calling the allegations by the u.s. justice department against iran. the iranny president said it is a fab fabrication to distract the american public from domestic problems like unemployment. so a strong, almost

important person at all so why would iran which approach provoke the united states and of course saudi arabia despite three decades of very poor relations with iran more or less. iran has never heard a single saudi anywhere at any time if you recall saudi arabia funded saddam hussein's war along with the americans and the europeans they funded the weapons of mass destruction program in the europeans americans helped them develop it but killing many thousands of iranians but the iranians never retaliated so why would the iranians do such a thing now so the end of course they're pretty bogus as well but i guess we're here for their later years ok michael i go to you in tel aviv what do you think of the merits of this case because it looks like a lot of legal people are looking and saying this is an obvious case of entrapment of a buffoon. i don't know about entrapment. the case itself works strange to say. but let's not forget that there is between iran and saudi arabia. several months ago. we could work through this. thing and saying the. head needs to be cut off the snake of iran. not to ment

in the eastern part of saudi arabia. saudi arabia has said that it will crack down fiercely on these protests by the shiite minority. it does not want this to be a problem in this oil-rich country. there's also lebanon. there's hezbollah. hezbollah has sided with the bahrainian protesters, but for instance sided with the syrian regime. it's difficult not to see this through a sectarian prism. >> iran says it's a fabrication, the united states making this up. iran does not have a great credibility, level of credibility, shall we say, but the question is, you have the law enforcement case, you have the one suspect who has been arrested. the second suspect, as you read through the complaint, and it's like a movie script everybody the second suspect said to be in iran somewhere. account obama administration do? what can the world do? what can you do? >> this is very brazen, i mean for them to plan an attack on our soil. think about it, that hasn't happened before. we need to work together with the other world leaders. china

iran and saudi arabia, no love lost between those two countries. is have intervened in bahrain's unrest of a shia majority there. that is something that the iranians are said to have supported. no love lost between them over the unrest in syria right now. saudis very concerned about iran's nuclear program. so it's a tough relationship between those two countries. but would the iranian government have gone so far to engage in such a brazen attack? that's still the question on the table. how far did this all go? >> well, i think we'll know more later today, at least i hope so. barbara starr reporting live for us from washington. >>> still ahead, the trial against michael jackson's doctor. some of the last words jackson's daughter, paris, said to dr. murray. her words revealed in court. it's 35 minutes past the hour. loaded potato with bacon. lw that's what we like to hear. ring, ring. progresso... ...switch our phone service? ...no, i think we're pretty happy with our phones. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. ♪ we're centurylink

with saudi arabia and israel speaking of cooperation with saudi arabia the us has brokered the largest arms deal with saudi arabia in its history worth sixty billion dollars the u.s. would justify its enormous contribution and to further militarization of the region as well iran's some experts believe that undermining the government of iran has been a long time coveted goal of the united states it's not clear how this incident will play out but it definitely makes the drums of war beat louder here in washington. reporting that michael sure a former cia intelligence officer says there are a lot of holes in the allegations against this apparent iranian backed plot. one of the biggest problems in the united states for for telling what the terrorist threat is in our country is that the f.b.i. runs the sting operations and then claims great credit for breaking up a planet that wouldn't have existed except that they lured somebody into doing it my initial reaction is if the iranians wanted to kill a saudi ambassador right do it in the united states when it would cause a war between the unite

opec is to the extent with saudi arabia wants to be. the interest of the saudis are usually swing power. so that their power is the most important force in the oil markets in the world. >> i guess in the interest of full the closure, i must say that i am an iranian american. i've been here 52 years. the last four years as a lawyer -- as a loyal citizen. there is a lot of resentment in this country because of our dependence on the middle east oil. and this is even before 9/11 and the terror and all the problems. we also resent the fact that the price keeps going up and we are paying a lot for it. i've watched on the discovery channel that concluded of the amount that we pay at the pump, let's say $3.40 or what have you, only 1 dollar of it does not go to taxes. all the rest is consumed by taxes of one kind or the other. which we impose and we collect, and it is a significant part of our economy. it's a significant part of our revenue. that last dollar pays the middle east, the transportation of crude oil, refining it, storing it, and dis

americans are still fascinated, scared by saudi arabia. at it, and they just wonder, is this still a place that is a breeding ground for a certain kind of islam, a certain kind of attitude toward modernity that is fundamentally anti-american? what would you say to people who have these fears? >> well, i would start by saying that saudis are equally scared and interested and curious about the united states, whether it is fundamentally a strategic friend as our governments and our leaders have been consistently saying and performing on that assumption. and sometimes there are questions as to whether that strategic friendship is equally strong on this side of the world as it is in the kingdom. the only way we can get over that, i think, is to know each other better. >> but many people feel that at the heart of the regime's stability is this compact it has made with a religious establishment that is quite extreme. why is it so difficult to make that break? it seems as though the king is well liked, he clearly is a modernizer. god knows you hav

ambassador to saudi arabia. on the shia/sunni tensions saudi arabia came to the defense of the bahrain regime. that's really a sunni minority -- a shia majority rising up against the bahraini sunni royal family. and the sunnis -- the sunni royal family in saudi arabia came to their defense. why? because they believe that bahrain is a proxy fight between the sunnis in saudi arabia and the shia of iran. so this will only serve to heighten those tensions right now. and there's a substantial shia majority in the eastern province of saudi arabia. in the 1980s iran and the shia were part of an attempt to overthrow the al sauds as part of the hajj, the royal pilgrimage. that's coming up now. the timing of this is very important in terms of the shia/sunni tensions. >> the stakes are incredible. thanks for your help tonight. let us know what you think. we're on facebook or you can follow me at twitte twitter @johnking.cnn. >>> could his remarks help or hurt this republican presidential campaign? and just one week after r

so this is a real affront to the united states as well as to saudi arabia. ink i lost. >> just that the saudis are going to retaliate economically or diplomatically by severing their relationship with iran. >> what i wanted to say is that some have been critical of what the united states has done. i am not one of those. i believe the united states has acted in a very responsible way. treasury has sanctioned various parts of the iranian government. and ukrainirai iranian enterpri individuals. state is going out, delivering evidence yesterday to the security counsel of the united nations and to our allies all over the world, so i think the effort to isolate iran and hopefully to convince iran that this is not the behavior that's going to endeer them to any nation is really important and critical. i think it's going to be very interesting to see how the iranian government reacts. other than bluster, which is to say this is made up. i think it's very secure that it is not made up. that it's real. >> we'll stay in close touch with you. thanks very much. >> herman

once it looked that leadership was threatened in mash, saudi arabia and other countries in the gulf sent forces into bahrain to try to prop up the government there, to try to make sure their stability was ensu ensured. a source of tension. the saudis pointing to iran. iran pointing to saudi arabia. a lot of tension and it's been boiling over as of late. suzanne? >> mohammed jamjoom, thank you. >>> the juv gloves came off again. the latest debate, a lot of facts and figures thrown around. some you true, some, not so true. tom foreman from washington to do fact checking. listen to comments from one of the front-runners, mitt romney. >> if you go back a few years before that clip and go to jfk's time, the government at all levels, federal, state and local, was consuming about 27% of the u.s. economy. today it consumes about 37% of the u.s. economy. >> so, tom what do we think? what do we make of that? >> what he's trying to imply, suzanne. the idea, the growth of government has become sort of rampant. crazy. have to bring it under control. government expenditures risen dramatically since th

cause a war between the united states and iran who wouldn't thailand do it in cambodia do it in saudi arabia but why you could hear i think what you need you to keep in mind is the saudis want the iranians destroyed the israelis want the iranians destroyed the congress in the united states is owned by israel and so the congress wants iran destroyed and this is an opportunity for them to push for war and so i think we have to be very careful until we find out exactly who is behind this plant the iranians are as much a threat to the united states as my shoes are to the united states but what we don't need is any kind of a conflict with the iranians because we're that will do is bring the whole islamic world down on top of us. so i have for you the program here in r.t. the price of compromise the latest final hurdle for serbia and its campaign for a long desired e.u. membership but recognizing cost of a could be higher of them belgrade wants to joan. pushing through and she deals and boosting cooperation with the aim of balancing out the economic and political dominance of the west russia's pri

>> opec is really saudi arabia. in june there was a split. another split which is quite interesting. once again the saudis wanted to increase their oil production. the iranians and the rest of the cartels of no. the meeting broke up and the saudis said it will pump market any what -- pump oil onto the market anyway. rears seeing a repeat. we will be interesting to see how far they go with it. in know, russia is now a major oil producer. we are seeing the countries of south america discovering oil deposits. i mean opec is to the extent what saudi arabia wanted to beat. the interest of the saudis they use the power so that their petropower is most important force in the oil market for the world. >> in the interest of full disclosure i must say that i am an iranian. i have been here for years. the last four as a loyal citizen . their resentment in this country because of our dependence on oil this is even before september 11th and the terror and all the problems. they also resent the fact that the chris -- the price is going out. i watched the pr

cause a war between the united states and iran and wouldn't try land do it in in cambodia do it in saudi arabia but why do it here i think what you need to keep in mind is that the saudis want the iranians destroyed the israelis want the iranians destroyed the congress in the united states is owned by israel and so the congress wants iran destroyed and this is an opportunity for them to push for war and so i think we have to be very careful until we find out exactly who is behind this plan to the iranians are as much a threat to the united states as my shoes are to the united states but what we don't need is any kind of a conflict with the iranians because what that will do is bring the whole islamic world down on top of us. what you are if you live from moscow still had for you this hour the price of compromise latest final hurdle for serbia and its campaign for a long desired you know membership but recognize impossible to be higher than celebrate wants to jump. the providers of levy as new governments around the remaining patch of gadhafi loyalists in his hometown but some question whether v