Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief said Monday Saudi Arabia is verging on collapse as Tehran's position strengthens, putting the kingdom in the same camp as arch-foe Israel over its military intervention in Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Arab states launched air strikes in Yemen on March 26 against Huthi Shia rebels, whom Riyadh accuses Tehran of arming.
"Now that these attacks have taken place, reservations should be put aside," said General Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of Iran's elite Guards force.
"Today the Saudi dynasty is on the verge of decline and fall," he said, asserting that Iran was in the ascendancy, the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.
"We hope this will be realised quickly," he added, according to the Tasnim news agency. "Every day we are witnessing the strengthening of the Islamic revolution's power and dimensions outside. Enemies and America have submitted to it."
Jafari's remarks are a further sign of deteriorating relations between Tehran and Riyadh, after recent heavy criticism by Iran's supreme leader and other top officials.
As the Middle East's foremost Sunni and Shia powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran are increasingly seen as vying for supremacy in the region, which remains beset by conflict and political turmoil.