Exclusive: Saudi Arabia launched covert attacks on Iran as regional war widened, sources say

Exclusive: Saudi Arabia launched covert attacks on Iran as regional war widened, sources say

By Timour Azhari and Parisa Hafezi

May 13, 2026

4:08 AM GMT+10

Updated 2 hours ago



Summary

• Attacks were followed by drop in Iranian strikes on the kingdom, Reuters tally shows
• Kingdom warned Iran of further retaliation, but diplomatic channels were maintained
• Saudi-Iran engagement tested by renewed attacks from Iraq

RIYADH/DUBAI, May 12 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia launched numerous, unpublicized strikes on Iran in retaliation for attacks carried out in the kingdom during the Middle East war, two Western officials briefed on the matter and two Iranian officials said.

The Saudi attacks, not previously reported, mark the first time that the ​kingdom is known to have directly carried out military action on Iranian soil and show it is becoming much bolder in defending itself against its main regional rival.

The attacks, launched by the Saudi Air ‌Force, were assessed to have been carried out in late March, the two Western officials said. One said only that they were "tit-for-tat strikes in retaliation for when Saudi (Arabia) was hit."

Reuters was unable to confirm what the specific targets were.

In response to a request for comment, a senior Saudi foreign ministry official did not address directly whether strikes had been carried out.
The Iranian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Saudi Arabia, which has a deep military relationship with the United States, has traditionally relied on U.S. military for protection, but the 10-week war has left the kingdom vulnerable to ​attacks that have pierced the U.S. military umbrella.


GULF ARAB STATES BEGAN HITTING BACK

The Saudi strikes underscore the widening of the conflict — and the extent to which a war that began when the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on ​Iran on February 28 has drawn in the broader Middle East in ways that have not been publicly acknowledged.

Since the U.S. and Israeli strikes, Iran has hit all six Gulf Cooperation Council ⁠states with missiles and drones, attacking not only U.S. military bases but civilian sites, airports and oil infrastructure, and closed the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global trade.

The United Arab Emirates also carried out military strikes on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. ​Together, the Saudi and Emirati actions reveal a conflict whose true shape has remained largely hidden — one in which Gulf monarchies battered by Iranian attacks began hitting back.

But their approach has not been identical. The UAE has taken a more hawkish stance, seeking ​to extract a cost from Iran and engaging only rarely in public diplomacy with Tehran.

Saudi Arabia has meanwhile sought to prevent the conflict from escalating and has stayed in regular contact with Iran, including via Tehran's ambassador in Riyadh. He did not respond to a request for comment.
The senior Saudi foreign ministry official did not directly address whether a de-escalation agreement had been struck with Iran, but said: "We reaffirm Saudi Arabia's consistent position advocating de-escalation, self-restraint and the reduction of tensions in pursuit of the stability, security and prosperity of the region and its people."

STRIKES, THEN DE-ESCALATION

The Iranian and ​Western officials said Saudi Arabia made Iran aware of the strikes and this was followed by intensive diplomatic engagement and Saudi threats to retaliate further, which led to an understanding between the two countries to de-escalate.

Ali Vaez, the Iran Project Director at ​the International Crisis Group, said retaliatory Saudi strikes on Iran, followed by an understanding to de-escalate, would "show pragmatic recognition on both sides that uncontrolled escalation carries unacceptable costs."
Such a sequence of events would show "not trust, but a shared interest in imposing limits on confrontation before it ‌spiraled into a ⁠wider regional conflict."

The informal de-escalation took effect in the week before Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire in their broader conflict on April 7. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

One of the Iranian officials confirmed that Tehran and Riyadh had agreed to de-escalate, saying the move aimed to "cease hostilities, safeguard mutual interests, and prevent the escalation of tensions."

Long at odds, Iran and Saudi Arabia — the two leading Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim powers in the Middle East — have backed opposing groups in conflicts across the region.

A China-brokered détente in 2023 saw them resume ties, including a ceasefire between the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia that has since held.

With the Red Sea remaining open to shipping, Saudi Arabia has been able to continue exporting oil ​throughout the conflict, unlike most Gulf states, and so has ​managed to remain relatively insulated.

KINGDOM AVOIDED 'FURNACE OF DESTRUCTION', SAYS ⁠PRINCE

In an op-ed in Saudi-owned Arab News over the weekend, former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal captured the kingdom's calculus, writing that "when Iran and others tried to drag the kingdom into the furnace of destruction, our leadership chose to endure the pains caused by a neighbor in order to protect the lives and property of its citizens."
Saudi Arabia's strikes followed weeks of mounting tension.

At ​a press conference in Riyadh on March 19, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the kingdom "reserved the right to take military actions if deemed necessary."

Three days later, Saudi ​Arabia declared Iran's military attaché and ⁠four embassy staff members personae non gratae.

IRAN CURTAILED DIRECT HITS ON KINGDOM, SOURCES SAY

By the end of March, diplomatic contacts and the threat by Saudi Arabia to take a more hawkish approach akin to the UAE and retaliate further led to an understanding to de-escalate, the Western sources said.

From more than 105 drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia in the week of March 25-31, the number fell to just over 25 between April 1-6, according to a Reuters tally of Saudi defence ministry statements.
Projectiles fired at Saudi Arabia in the ⁠days leading up ​to the wider ceasefire were assessed by Western sources to have originated in Iraq rather than Iran itself, indicating Tehran had curtailed direct strikes while ​allied groups continued to operate.

Saudi Arabia summoned Iraq's ambassador on April 12 to protest against attacks from Iraqi soil.

The Saudi-Iranian communication continued even as strains emerged at the start of the broader ceasefire between Iran and the U.S., when the Saudi defence ministry reported 31 drones and 16 missiles fired at the kingdom ​on April 7-8.

The spike prompted Riyadh to consider retaliation against Iran and Iraq, while Pakistan deployed fighter jets to reassure the kingdom and urged restraint as diplomacy gathered pace.

How did Mahathir succeed in dividing us?

How did Mahathir succeed in dividing us?

Murale Pillai
Published: May 13, 2026 11:35 AM
Updated: 1:43 PM



COMMENT | It bothers me not that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has finally owned up: “I failed to unite the Malays.”

He failed despite holding the reins of power for 22 long years, sharing the bonds of faith with “his people”, who place a premium on the unity of the ummah, and lording over the machinery of government and the judiciary as if they belonged to him.

His failure speaks volumes about his character, abilities and mental make-up.

But what really bothers me is that he succeeded in dividing us, in a country built by the blood, sweat and tears of our forefathers from near and afar.

How did he succeed in this grim and ghastly business of pitting citizen against citizen for his own ends, using a devious mix of both party politics and a misplaced self-belief that he alone knew how to make “his people” great again to the exclusion of the rest of us?

Dr Mahathir Mohamad, during his reign as the fourth prime minister


For a quick answer to this sordid question, we must turn to the classic novel "Things Fall Apart” by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe.

The standout line is the one spoken by Obierika to his close friend, the angry and unsettled main character, Okonkwo, on how clan unity in Umuofia village had been wrecked by the coming of the white missionaries and colonialists.

Here it is: “He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”

How ironic that Mahathir, who railed and ridiculed the English colonialists for the enduring presence of Indians and Chinese in Malaysia, gleefully put the knife on the bonds of kinship and tradition that held us together, turning us into a Malaysian Umuofia.

A blunt and rusty knife

Older Malaysians will remember a time before this knife-crime when politicians were not racially bipolar; when they didn’t suffer this obsession to reduce everything into a racial binary of Malays and non-Malays.

Of course, there were serious divisions in our society before he was appointed prime minister in 1982, and these can be traced back to colonial rule and the feudalism of the past.

Under British colonial rule, there was no income tax until just before Merdeka in 1957. There was much “old wealth” held largely by a few Chinese towkays and tycoons in Penang, Malacca and Singapore.

The old federated Malay states of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang had benefited enormously from the tin and rubber industry, the mainstay of the Malayan economy, and where men and women toiled from dawn to dusk for a pittance.

There were other divisions too between urban and rural, between Sabah and Sarawak and the rest of the peninsula, between the east and west coast states, between those who attended under-funded estate schools and well-run missionary schools, between those who were very proficient in English and those who were not.

Yes, nation-building is tough, and it takes wise and exemplary leadership to succeed.

But instead, Mahathir saw all these divisions in terms of us-versus-them, and over time, the non-Malays were further reduced in the everyday language of his politics to just “nons”, a sinister echo of the shortened term “Proles” in Orwell’s book “1984”.

And there were still others who fell outside this bipolarism, becoming the objectifying “dan lain-lain”, others. Division and selfishness had become normalised.

Under his so-called “Cekap, Amanah, dan Bersih” (Efficient, Trustworthy, and Clean) administration, schools, school heads, ministries, agencies, academia, government projects, tenders, budget allocations, funding, media, textbooks, sports, entertainment, promotions, appointments and whole industries were all put to his knife - a blunt and rusty one, not the sharp scalpel of a highly competent surgeon.

Fighting over spoils

The egotistical Mahathir, a physically small man, never knew his priorities in nation-building and the economy. He often put the cart before the kerbau (buffalo). Think of all his “catastrophic successes”. Like Pewaja Steel and Proton. And for what?

Given his “I know it all” trait, which he shares with dictators and autocrats, he saw “his people” as mere putty in his hands to be moulded into a form of his own liking.

No, we’re not referring to men like (Joseph) Stalin, Mao (Zedong) or Napoleon (Bonaparte) who, for better or worse, loom large in world history. We mustn't speak of them in the same breath as Mahathir, who belongs to the petty group of dictators and military strongmen who dot the pages of more recent third-world history.

Men like Papa Doc of Haiti and (Rafael) Trujillo of the Dominican Republic. Or Suharto of Indonesia. Or (Filipino dictator Ferdinand) Marcos. Or (former Myanmar president) Ne Win. These were the men who liked their faces to dominate the front pages of newspapers.

What they said, did or thought in the previous 24 hours was deemed all-important in the affairs of a nation. They also appeared incessantly on TV. Flipping channels was of little use. For 22 long years, Malaysians, too, were fed a daily diet of how Mahathir was making “his people” great again, if not greater than the non-Malays.

Now they are fighting over the spoils of his “To get rich is glorious whether by fair means or foul” legacy.

Not a day passes without yet another massive corruption scandal, of government funds being siphoned off, of customs and immigration officers running rackets and scams, of using religion to pocket money meant for the poor. And not surprisingly, we have lost our work ethic, too.

Rising above the rot

The rot has now turned into a miasma of incompetence, chest-beating and self-serving pronouncements, but all is not lost.

Those who believe in the power of human agency, of rising above this rot despite the pain of the past, can look for inspiration by turning our gaze to the “Bird’s Nest Stadium” in Beijing that housed the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Thousands of short struts and supports, each designed to cancel out the strains and stresses of this structure, keep it whole as a bird's nest made of bits of dried grass and stems.

And like a bird’s nest, what has kept us whole is the daily multitude of small individual acts and exchanges between the common people of this land, shorn of all hate and malice, and filled with the milk of human kindness.

Think of the untiring nurse in an overcrowded hospital working the night shift, the selfless teacher in the classroom for whom every child is a student, the dedicated civil servant who doesn’t give you the race treatment, the helpful police officer who doesn’t treat a citizen like a criminal, the lawyer doing pro bono work… the list is as endless as it is life-affirming.

We now await the coming of a “I'm Malaysian first” prime minister in the full knowledge that the nation cannot survive yet another knife-wielding one like Mahathir.

MURALE PILLAI is a former GLC employee. He runs a logistics company.

 

Who gains most from an early election?

Who gains most from an early election?

2 days ago

Letter to the Editor

There are many with an agenda ready to pounce on issues to try and increase their share of power.

From Martin Vengadesan

It’s standard practice for the disgruntled to agitate for early elections.

Ever since the watershed elections of 2008, staple questions designed to create a stir have centred on early election dates, shift of support and possible Cabinet reshuffles.

However, you have to ask yourself who is really keen on having polls? This is especially so considering this is a time of global volatility due to the impact of oil prices and tariffs, not to mention random military action by US president Donald Trump.

Who will push for political chaos and tensions even as we brace for economic impact?

The answer, of course, is those who are most unhappy with the status quo.

It might be former ministers like Azmin Ali, Rafizi Ramli, Khairy Jamaluddin, or affiliated and allied members of the media. It could be PAS, the largest party in Parliament, seeking to capitalise further on recent gains.

In a country like Malaysia where the old coalition Barisan Nasional is suffering reduced circumstances, many among their ranks are agitating for another chance to reclaim lost power.

Supporters of former prime ministers Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin aren’t exactly thrilled about the status quo either.

Basically, there are many with an agenda waiting to pounce on issues to try and increase their share of power. Recently, a palace crisis in Negeri Sembilan was followed by manoeuvres from the state’s Umno chapter.

We shouldn’t forget the calamity that followed the Sheraton Move. Be grateful for the stability and prosperity instead of looking to plunge into another era of uncertainty and political horse trading.

The government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has a stable majority and time on its side, with a year and a half before elections must be called. Why rush to the polls now?

I, for one, would be most relieved if this government pushes through as many promised reforms as possible in the time it has left.

We can start with the four reforms the prime minister announced at the beginning of the year, including the scuppered bill to limit the country’s chief executive to two terms, or 10 years, as well as another bill to separate the powers of the public prosecutor and the attorney-general.

There is also an Ombudsman Bill, aimed at strengthening public accountability, and a Freedom of Information Act to improve transparency in public procurement, contracts and government decision-making.

Also of grave importance to me and our country’s future is carrying out the electoral delineation exercise before a general election is held.

It must be done in accordance with a spirit of restorative justice. There currently exists a gross disparity in the number of voters packed into parliamentary constituencies.

Smaller rural constituencies that back PAS sometimes have just 30% the electorate of urban seats that largely support Pakatan Harapan. This means that the rural voter representation is disproportionately high. How long can this be allowed to persist?

A note too about the pundits expertly predicting doom and gloom about the elections and their outcome.

A question I would like to ask political “experts”, who are making vapid declarations with pomp and circumstance. Which did you correctly predict?

1. Anwar becoming PM in 2022?
2. Najib Razak losing in 2018?
3. Najib losing the popular vote but winning the election in 2013?
4. The tsunami of 2008?

If you did indeed foresee any of those, kindly steer me to proof of your clairvoyance. I will be most impressed.

 

Martin Vengadesan, a former editor, currently serves as a strategic communications consultant to the communications ministry and is an FMT reader.

PAS ulama leader under fire over remarks about prophet's companions

PAS ulama leader under fire over remarks about prophet's companions


Published: May 13, 2026 12:20 PM
Updated: 3:17 PM



A PAS ulama leader is under fire - including from the party's own cleric wing - over remarks about the Prophet Muhammad's companions and the first and second caliphs, Abu Bakar as-Siddiq and Umar al-Khattab.

In a recent religious talk, PAS syura council secretary Nik Zawawi Salleh had said that before Islam, Abu Bakar was a moneylender who oppressed the poor, and that Umar was a violent person, adulterer, and fornicator.

Abu Bakar and Umar led the early Muslim community following the Prophet Muhammad's death.

Abu Bakar was a rich merchant in the pre-Islamic days, and there is no record of him being a moneylender.

While Umar was known for a fierce temper and was said to drink alcohol in his pre-Islamic days, there are no records of him being an adulterer or fornicator.

Nik Zawawi (above) initially responded to criticism negatively and defended his remarks, saying he was merely stating facts.

"We can refer to scholarly books on how things were in the pre-Islamic days, and no ulama has exempted anyone, including Abu Bakar and Umar, from being part of the pre-Islamic system.

"It does not arise that I insulted the prophet's companions," said the Pasir Puteh MP, adding that he forgave those who criticised him.

However, Nik Zawawi issued an apology today.

"I admit I was careless in presenting information and my delivery when making those remarks. As such, I apologise for this mistake," he said in a statement that also sought to distance his remarks from PAS.

The statement was shared by the PAS ulama council 

on its Facebook page.


‘Be more careful’

In a statement prior to Nik Zawawi’s apology, the PAS ulama council said there were factual inaccuracies in the syura council secretary's remarks, and that it had given him a thorough rebuke and reminder to be more careful when speaking about Islamic history.

PAS ulama council information chief Nor Hamzah


"The ulama wing stresses that Prophet Muhammad's companions were the best generation of Muslims who must be venerated and their honour protected.

"Any comments about history and the personality (of the companions), especially about their lives pre-Islam, must be delivered accurately, courteously, and based on accurate knowledge," said the wing's information chief, Nor Hamzah.

Others who have criticised Nik Zawawi include PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari and the party's Selangor youth chief, Sukri Omar.

A group of NGOs is also reportedly planning to lodge police reports against the lawmaker later today.

 

Bodies of 3 women recovered after boat tragedy off Pangkor

Bodies of 3 women recovered after boat tragedy off Pangkor

2 hours ago

Bernama

The vessel was reported to be carrying 37 undocumented migrants from Indonesia.

MMEA officers retrieving the belongings of undocumented migrants after the boat they were travelling in capsized in waters off Pulau Pangkor on Monday. (MMEA pic)

LUMUT:

Authorities have recovered the bodies of three women in the waters off Pulau Pangkor believed to be among the victims of a capsized boat carrying undocumented migrants.

Marine police Region 1 operations command officer Mazre Che Mahmod said the bodies were discovered by the navy’s KD Sri Indera Sakti about 20 nautical miles from the location of the incident at about 6pm yesterday.

“An investigation to determine the identities of the three victims is ongoing,” he said.

Mazre said the latest discovery brought the total number of victims found so far to 30, after 23 of them were rescued on the first day of the search and rescue (SAR) operation on Monday.

Four bodies were found in the waters off Pulau Pangkor yesterday.

“We are still searching for seven more victims. The third day of the SAR operation resumed at 7am today, involving the marine police, the navy and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA),” he said.

The boat was carrying 37 undocumented migrants from Indonesia who reportedly departed from Kisaran for Malaysia on May 9.