Foad Izadi, an assistant professor at the University of Tehran, said the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 "started with false accusations against the Iraqi government."
"Seeing those signs again with the Trump administration is worrying to Iranian leaders because they don't want to have a war with the United States," he said.
While most analysts say all-out war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is unlikely, an animated video that went viral over the weekend raised the specter of just that.
The warlike fantasy imaged a Saudi warship sinking incoming Iranian boats, the kingdom's jets shooting Iranian planes out of the sky, and its tanks rolling through Tehran to the cheers of welcoming civilians.
The video received almost 900,000 views in just four days and was translated in English, Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Spanish and Japanese.
There is no suggestion the video was created or endorsed by the government in Riyadh. NBC News received no immediate response when it reached out to Saudi officials; the YouTube account that posted the video also did not respond. Sky more