Worried by Iran's deepening involvement in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia has been working quietly to curtail the Shiite nation's influence and prevent the marginalization of Sunni Muslims in the region's hotspots.
Analysts say the tug-of-war between the two Middle East powers signals a new chapter in an uneasy relationship, one that has swung over the years between wariness and -- at times -- outright confrontation.
On the surface, both countries have maintained the civil front that has marked ties since a thaw in relations in the early 1990s.
"But events on the ground indicate that the two countries are working against each other as their differences are played out outside their borders," said Ibrahim Bayram, a reporter for the Lebanese An-Nahar newspaper, who follows the country's pro-Iranian Hezbollah group.
Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the region, has been putting its economic and diplomatic weight behind groups in direct confrontation with factions backed by Iran in every major conflict zone in the region -- Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
The kingdom has also expressed concerns over Iran's nuclear program. The US contends that Iran is seeking to covertly develop nuclear weapons, which Iran denies. But Saudi Arabia has fears even about a peaceful nuclear program because of the possible environmental threat and the potential for conflict between Iran and US troops in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.
A Saudi official said Iran has sent messages expressing its desire to work with the kingdom to resolve the area's conflicts. But the official said Iran's actions speak louder than those messages, making Saudi Arabia cautious in dealing with Tehran. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The tense situation has also made the kingdom more determined to explore ways to find a settlement to Middle East upheavals on its own.
Saudi Arabia has stepped up attempts to reconcile Iraq's fractious groups and has invited Iraqi leaders for talks, including anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Harith al-Dhari, head of Iraq's influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars. It has also been talking to Iraq's Sunnis to urge them to renounce violence and become more involved in the political process.
Elsewhere, the kingdom is supporting the US-backed Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, who is facing street protests organized by Hezbollah meant to topple the government. The Saudis are also backing beleaguered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is trying to work out a new unity government with the militant Hamas group, which is allied to Iran.
The relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia has long been uneasy, especially after the 1979 Iranian revolution. Saudi Arabia sided with Baghdad in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, and Riyadh and Tehran were openly hostile at the height of the conflict.
Saudi analysts say Iran is now trying to wrest the traditional leadership role Riyadh has played in the region. But Saudi Arabia will "not allow Iran to expand at its expense as a big regional power," said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi journalist.
"Iran is acting as a Persian state and not as an Islamic state," he said. "The conflict in the region is not a Sunni-Shiite conflict. It's a Persian-Arab conflict."
The view from Iran is different, said Mashaallah Shamsolvaezin, an adviser to the Middle East Strategic Studies Center in Tehran, which is closely affiliated with the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
He said a change in Iranian foreign policy to focus on improving economic and political ties with Middle Eastern countries instead of Europe has prompted the Saudi fears. He said the political shift is not coming at the expense of traditional powers like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
He blamed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "radical" rhetoric for Tehran's failure to send a reassuring message about its policy shifts.
"His statements not only have not helped. They have hurt Iran's strategic policies," he said.
READINESS: According to a survey of 2,000 people, 86 percent of Swedes believe the country is worth defending in the event of a military attack Swedes are stocking up on food items in case of war, as more conflict in Europe no longer feels like a distant possibility, and authorities encourage measures to boost readiness. At a civil preparedness fair in southwest Stockholm, 71-year-old Sirkka Petrykowska said that she is taking the prospect of hostilities seriously and preparing as much as she can. “I have bought a camping stove. I have taken a course on preservation in an old-fashioned way, where you can preserve vegetables, meat and fruit that lasts for 30 years without a refrigerator,” Petrykowska said. “I’ve set aside blankets for warmth, I
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
‘ARMED CONFLICT’: At least 21 people have died in such US attacks, while experts say the summary killings are illegal even if they target confirmed narcotics traffickers US forces on Friday carried out a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing four people, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said. The latest strike, which Hegseth announced in a post on X, brings the number of such US attacks to at least four, leaving at least 21 people dead. An accompanying video shared by Hegseth showed a boat speeding across the waves before being engulfed in smoke and flames. “Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed,” the Pentagon chief wrote. He said the strike “was conducted in international waters just off the
RSS