This has been an interesting week in terms of local concerns about attempts by the Iranian government to influence the state of affairs in nearby nations in the middle east.
First, we have the seizure by the Israeli government of a cargo ship carrying a significant supply of arms, ostensibly from Iran to Syria, presumably with the longer-term goal of supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Curiously enough, rather than claim some other purpose for the arms, or that they have nothing to do with them, the official Iranian government position borders on insisting that the arms are not, in fact, weapons.
In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki held a joint news conference with his visiting Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem and dismissed the Israeli allegations.
Mr Muallem said: "Unfortunately, some official pirates in the seas, sometimes in the name of the navy, sometimes in the name of inspection, obstruct trade movement between Syria and Iran.
"This ship does not carry Iranian weapons to Syria and does not contain military material to manufacture weapons in Syria. This ship carries imported goods from Syria to Iran."
Both this Iranian and the associated Syrian statement don't quite say that the arms aren't arms, but come awfully close. Unless one believes that the Israeli government staged the fairly extensive video of the ship's contents, however, they're pretty clearly weapons (interestingly, weapons with Spanish-language labeling, at least in the portions I've seen covered on video).
More on the claims and denials can be found in this BBC article and this al Jazeera article.
While Israel worries about Iranian government influence in Lebanon, the government of Saudia Arabia may well have pressured Nilesat and Arabsat to take Iran's Arabic language station off the air, following concerns about reporting by Al-Alam on Shia insurgents in Yemen that included language suggesting Saudi Arabia is involved. The Saudi government may be especially sensitive here following a Zaidi insurgent raid into Saudi Arabia.
We have to imagine that there will not at any point in all this be a Saudi-Israeli anti-Iranian pact (although SIAIP is a cute acronym).