Iranian general says son might kill Saudi king to claim throne

A powerful Iranian general has been quoted suggesting that Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince is so "impatient" he may kill his own father to claim the throne, Associated Press reports.

His comments come as Saudi Arabia conducts naval drills in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.



Unforgiving rhetoric has been common between the two countries since January. However, the remarks by the Revolutionary Guards General Qassem Soleimani's take things to an entirely different level by suggesting regicide.

Soleimani made the comments late on Wednesday at a mourning ceremony for an Iranian general killed in Syria, The Fars and Tasnim news agencies report.

Relations between majority Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia went downhill after the January 2 ransacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in Mashhad.



The ransacking came amid anger over Riyadh’s execution of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent cleric from the kingdom’s Shia minority. Following the execution Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Tehran. Several Arab countries followed suit and severed or reduced relations with Iran.

This article originally appeared on ABC News