Classified plans to topple Iranian regime detailed in Lebanese newspaper

The newspaper obtained a classified document from an undisclosed source claiming that Saudi Arabia proposed two options to the United States on how to topple the Islamic Republic - Nimrod and Spider.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo takes part in a meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, September 18, 2019 (photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/POOL/REUTERS)
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo takes part in a meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, September 18, 2019
(photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/POOL/REUTERS)
After previously disclosing a detailed plan in 2017 accusing Saudi Arabia and the United States of attempting to overthrow the Iranian government, the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar released further details elaborating on their previous claim.
The newspaper obtained a classified document from an undisclosed source claiming that Saudi Arabia proposed two options to the US on how to topple the Islamic Republic – “Nimrod” and “Spider.”
Spider focused on using software to sway political opinions within the government in the hopes of bringing about a regime change by 2020.
The other plan, Nimrod, was aimed at internationally isolating Iran by operating and increasing the number of Persian-language media programs – in order to feature and focus on content approved by the Kingdom, according to Al Akhbar.
Saudi Arabia currently owns and manages the London-based Persian-language TV channel Iran International.
Iran’s embassy in Britain filed a lawsuit against the channel last September due to the support given by the program for the terrorist group, whose live gunman attacked the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp during a military parade in Ahvaz in the southwestern province of Khuzestan that month, which killed 26 and wounded 69 others.
“The Iranian embassy in London has taken its official lawsuit to ‘Ofcom’ [asking it] to investigate the Iran International TV channel’s illegal move to broadcast an interview with the spokesman of the [al-Ahwazi Yeh] terrorist group,” Iranian Ambassador to the UK Hamid Baeidinejad tweeted last year.
The terrorist group responsible for the attack, al-Ahwazi Yeh, allegedly receives most of its funding from Saudi Arabia, according to Iranian state-run media. Shortly after the attack, the channel invited the group’s spokesperson to speak live on air to justify the attacks.