VZCZCXRO3495
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHJI #0381/01 1430137
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 230137Z MAY 06
FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9184
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1392
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1470
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 6516
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000381 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR 
TSOU; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL PROP PTER SA SCUL
SUBJECT: JEDDAH BUSINESSMAN: IRAN ESTABLISHING GRASSROOTS 
NETWORK IN KSA TO COUNTER US ATTACK 
 
Classified By: Tatiana C. Gfoeller reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (S) SUMMARY: During a recent meeting with ConGenoff, a 
Jeddah businessman and former International Visitors Program 
participant claimed that he had been approached by 
representatives of the Iranian government to participate in a 
new strategic media initiative to foment anti-US sentiment in 
the GCC, particularly in Saudi Arabia.  Al Sairi stated that 
the well-coordinated campaign was part of a larger drive to 
develop a pro-Iranian "fifth column" within the Kingdom, both 
to extend Iran's influence in the region and to create a 
network of supporters that could be called upon to serve as 
"mujahedeen" in the event of a US attack on Iran.  He cited 
recent moves by the Iranian government to downplay the 
long-standing Sunni-Shi'a rivalry as the opening shot of this 
public campaign. END SUMMARY 
 
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CREATING A FIFTH COLUMN OF IRANIAN SUPPORT 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (S) Jeddah businessman Meshari Al Sairi (please strictly 
protect) called ConGenoff to his office on May 20 to disclose 
that he had been approached by representatives of the Iranian 
government to assist in a new strategic media initiative to 
foment anti-US sentiment in the GCC, with specific emphasis 
on Saudi Arabia.  A former journalist and participant in a 
2002 USG-sponsored International Visitors Program to the US, 
Al Sairi said that he subsequently left journalism out of 
frustration at the self-censorship and lack of creativity in 
the Saudi news media.  He also claimed that he had been 
arrested in 2004 on the orders of Minister of the Interior 
Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz Al Saud after criticizing the 
Ministry for not providing adequate accommodations and food 
for its employees in the Hejaz (the Western part of Saudi 
Arabia, of which Jeddah is the "capital.")  Al Sairi stated, 
however, that his interest in establishing his own economic 
newspaper is well-known and presumably accounts for the 
alleged approach by Iranian envoys. 
 
¶3.  (S) According to Al Sairi, Iran's campaign is aimed at 
supplanting US influence in the region with its own.  An 
overt and well-coordinated public diplomacy program would 
include the placement of anti-US articles in the regional 
Arabic-language press; the production of documentary films 
detailing US "atrocities" in Iraq, Afghanistan, and 
Palestine; and SMS broadcasts to mobile phones describing the 
US "crusade" against Islam.  Al Sairi said the Iranians who 
approached him had asked him to produce some of these 
materials. 
 
¶4.  (S) In addition to generating anti-US sentiment in the 
region, Al Sairi said these steps are designed to create a 
network of supporters that Iran could draw on to serve as 
"mujahedeen" in the country's defense following a US 
invasion.  He drew a comparison with the groups of Arab men 
who flocked to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union in the 
1980s.  When ConGenoff reminded Al Sairi that the Afghan 
"mujahedeen" had received US and SAG assistance that proved 
essential to their struggle against the Soviets (assistance 
from the latter which would presumably not be available in 
the event of an armed conflict between the US and Iran), he 
remarked that the aim of Iran's outreach campaign in the 
Kingdom would be to create a ground swell of public support 
for fellow Muslims that the SAG would be unable restrain. 
 
¶5.  (S) Al Sairi also noted that the Iranian government had 
obtained access to a list of dual US-Saudi nationals in the 
Kingdom and would undertake efforts to find those who felt 
they had not been treated as full citizens by the USG. 
Though vague, the implication was that these people would be 
vulnerable to Iranian coercion and would conceivably be used 
as a "fifth column," even in the US. 
 
---------------------------------- 
DOWNPLAYING SECTARIAN DIFFERENCES 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (S) Al Sairi said that a critical element in the success 
of such a campaign would be the Iranian government's ability 
to downplay the long-standing Sunni-Shi'a rivalry.  He 
 
JEDDAH 00000381  002 OF 002 
 
 
claimed that the Iranian envoys he met were aware of this and 
planned to de-emphasize any sectarian disputes as part of the 
initiative.  Al Sairi indicated that Iran had instructed 
several Shi'a Imams in Iraq and Saudi Arabia to set aside 
their differences with Sunnis in the interests of fighting 
their "common enemy," namely the US.  He also alleged that 
Iran's encouragement for Moqtada Al Sadr to moderate his 
position vis-a-vis Iraqi Sunnis was an example of this 
posture. 
 
¶7.  (S) COMMENT: Given that Al Sairi would not disclose any 
details on the Iranians who had approached him, it is 
difficult to assess the credibility of his claims and equally 
unclear if he is trying to convey a message on behalf of a 
third-party or is, as he said, trying to repay a debt to the 
USG for having sent him to the US in 2002.  He does, however, 
deny any interest in working for either "side" in the US-Iran 
conflict, and it is unclear what he would have to gain from 
such a discussion with a low-ranking Consulate staff member. 
END COMMENT 
 
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
------------------ 
 
¶8.  (C) Born in 1977, Meshari Al Sairi received a bachelor's 
degree in journalism from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah 
in 1999.  He subsequently worked for the Jeddah-based daily 
"Okaz" and, later, "Al Watan" and "Al Iqtisadia."  He visited 
the US in 2002 for a USG-sponsored International Visitor's 
Program to examine American media coverage of the Middle East 
and explore the interaction between press and politics in the 
US, including a week studying state and local political 
processes in Arkansas.  Hailing from an upper-middle class 
family, Al Sairi left journalism in 2003 to become the 
chairman of Roushn Al Arabia Holding Company, with ownership 
over a construction firm, a chain of beauty salons, a stock 
market investment group, and a variety of real estate 
holdings. 
Gfoeller