...I heard that rumor too, and it could well be very accurate. When you live, it is hoped that natural death will prevail.
To me? It looooks like a thin threat possibly and probably looking to expedite matters. How do you read the message?
I think they are content to let nature take its course, because it gives them that much more time to generate more chaos.
The thing is, there are a lot of Saudi royals. I don’t think Abdullah or his brothers, all of whom are well on in years, have left the plan for continuation of the dynasty to chance. There is likely a whole lot of internecine wrangling going on as to who will become King, though.
Also, the prophecy includes Yemenis marching on Mecca, which is the source of Saudi power in the Islamic world. So, the Iranians need to make sure Yemen is capable of taking Mecca. Another reason they need some more time.
No one, however, has addressed a couple of likely outcomes that I have been wondering about.
1) We lose Saudi to the jihadis and oil goes to $200/bbl, with Latin America and Pacific Muslim nations embargoing The US and Europe. Result: the US ramps up drilling, increases coal utilization, makes energy deals with Europe and, along with Canada, goes into direct economic confrontation with Russia over supplying European oil.
2) All heck breaks loose in the ME, there is a nuclear exchange, the oil is contaminated at the source. Result: the same as in 1).
It is all well and good for the Greens to get rid of nuclear energy and for all the alternatives to slowly evolve to a point where they could replace some fossil fuel, but a sudden loss of ME oil is going to send the entire globe into an economic death spiral. No country is going to voluntarily decrease energy usage.