Iran and Saudi Arabia: Mortal Enemies
In quite a fascinating post for The Moderate Voice, Elyas Bakhtiari argues that when talking about the Middle East and the balance of power in that region, Westerners often make the mistake to think that the main enemy or rival for most Middle Eastern regimes is the United States. Bakhtiari argues that this is not the case: instead, it are other regional regimes who are considered the true enemy and against whom foreign policy is truly aimed.
He is right, and it is important for us to realize this whenever we talk about the Middle East. Iran and Saudi Arabia do not get along very well, and both have supported militants in Iraq and in other places. In fact, ideologically seen, these two countries are each other’s mortal enemies. They are truly each other’s main ideological enemies. The Shiite radicals in charge of Iran consider the Saudis fundamentalist Sunnis bend on converting Shiites to Sunni Islam.
The Salafi radicals in charge of the Saudi Kingdom, meanwhile, consider the Shiite radicals in Iran to be blasphemers or, worse, apostates. They fear that the Iranians are trying to convert Sunni Muslims to Shiite Islam, which is truly a horrendous thing for these people.
The two are fighting each other through proxies and fundamentalist organizations all throughout the Middle East. They are active in Iraq, where the Saudis try to prevent a complete Shiite takeover while the Iranians are trying to prevent the Sunni majority from taking back power and turning towards Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim states in the region rather than to Iran. They are also active in other countries such as Afghanistan, where they fight each other for the same reasons.
A correct term to describe this situation is “Middle Eastern Cold War.” And it has been waged for decades. Most steps taken by both regimes are not because they want to do something against the West, but against each other. Iran does not want to develop nuclear weapons because it will help it attack Israel or the U.S., but because it will enable her to dominate the region. If Iran dominates the region, it will force back the forces of (radical) Sunni Islam.
That and nothing else is the goal.
U.S. policy should deal with both regional powers based on the above.
“..the Saudis try to prevent a complete Shiite takeover while the Iranians are trying to prevent the Sunni majority from taking back power and turning towards Saudi Arabia..”
Michael van der Galien is not aware of a basic fact that the shia are the majority in iraq. He is aslo mistaken about the sophistication of Iranian foreign policy which is much more then merely trying to stop Saudi domination of the region. The Iranians are enetitled to peaceful nuclear technology under the NPT. It would be nice for them to have the option of going nuclear but main aim is to master the technology for nuclear energy. All those who say its a cover stroy because Iranians dont need it because of oil reserves should think about why the UK and USA are going to build many more nuclear power palnts when they have oil reserves of their own…. because its too risky to put all all your energy eggs in one basket.