Saudi Arabia announced Sunday that it was severing ties with Iran, hours after Iranian protesters set fires in the Saudi embassy compound in Tehran to protest the execution the day before the Shiite cleric, Sheik Nimr al-Nimr.
At the root of their rivalry is Islam’s centuries-old schism between Sunni Muslims, who make up the majority in the oil-rich Saudi Kingdom, and Shiites who dominate Iran. Their enmity has exacerbated conflicts in the Middle East and U.S. efforts to bring peace to the region.
Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia is home to Islam’s holiest city of Mecca, where millions of the faithful journey for the annual Hajj. Iran, the world’s leading Shiite powerhouse, is governed by radical clerics.
Both are vying to extend their influence across the volatile Middle East. Here are five sources of new collisions between the two:
THE UNITED STATES
As America’s closest Arab ally in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has enjoyed massive U.S. military aid and has long influenced American foreign policy. An added bonus for the Saudis has been America’s estrangement from Iran since the 1979 revolution there that toppled the U.S.-backed shah.
The power balance shifted in 2015, however, when President Obama reached a historic agreement with Iran that limits Iran’s ability to acquire nuclear weapons. In return for Iran’s compliance with the terms of the deal, the U.S. and other world powers must lift crippling economic sanctions on Iran, something likely to occur this year.
The Saudis fear Iran will use the tens of billions of dollars in frozen assets and new business opportunities to support Shiite rebel groups in the region to destabilize Sunni-led governments, as well as use the new revenue to buy weapons in support of its expansionary goals. The Saudis also fear Iran will cheat on the nuclear deal, fueling a Mideast nuclear arms race.
YEMEN
Saudi Arabia’s poverty-stricken southern neighbor at the foot the Arabian Peninsula has become the closest example of a proxy war between the Saudis and Iran.
The Saudi Kingdom is leading a local military coalition aimed at defeating Shiite-dominated Houthi rebels who are threatening to unseat the government. The Houthis have received direct military aid from Iran.
SYRIA
Iran is backing Syrian President Bashar Assad’s embattled regime in his nearly 5-year-old civil war by providing both financing and fighters from Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite militant group based in Lebanon. Assad, a longtime Iranian ally, received a boost in 2015, when Russia sent in military forces to assist him.
Saudi Arabia, along with the United States and Turkey, is backing Sunni rebel groups opposed to Assad. The U.S. is concerned that some of those groups are too extreme and might team up with the Islamic State, the Sunni radical group that a U.S.-led coalition is trying to repel from Syria and Iraq.
IRAQ
Although the population is mostly Shiite, Iraq had been ruled for decades by Saddam Hussein and his Sunni minority until the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 ousted Saddam’s regime. The current, predominantly Shiite government has been heavily influenced by Iran, which has provided support for powerful Shiite militias in Iraq. Saudi Arabia is wary of the Iraqi government and is sympathetic to Sunnis who feel alienated by the government. Some of those Sunni residents are backing the Islamic State militant group.
OIL
As the leading global exporter of oil, Saudi Arabia has refused to cut production in the face of plummeting oil prices to defend its market share. As a result, the world is now awash in cheap oil. The drop in prices already has forced the kingdom to slash its government budget.
The glut may soon worsen — and the value of Saudi Arabia’s virtually sole source of revenue further diminish — once sanctions against rival Iran are eased under the nuclear weapons deal. Iran, estimated to have the fourth largest oil reserves on the planet, is ready to export 500,000 barrels a day once it is given access to the world market. That figure could grow as Iran rehabilitates its aging oil industry infrastructure.B
No comments:
Post a Comment