The rising tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran is a major cause of the problems plaguing the Middle East, writes Abdel Bari Atwan.
The two countries are fighting proxy wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Palestine, and people of the region are paying the price in their blood, wealth, territorial integrity and stability.
The Iranian-Saudi conflict is not new. It dates back to 1979 when the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown. It was later exacerbated when Tehran revealed its nuclear ambitions and it reached its climax in the continuing crisis in Syria and the Saudis’ loss of control of Iraq to Iran.
The Saudi leadership wants the Assad regime to fall by any means. To this end, it is using all its material resources and its regional and international alliances. On the other hand, the Iranian leadership is striving to foil such attempts and has so far succeeded by helping the Assad regime survive.
The Saudi-Iranian confrontation is taking its toll on the region, fuelling civil and sectarian wars and turning many countries into failed states. It is difficult for Riyadh to win in Syria and it is almost impossible for Iran to win in Yemen. And to say that ISIL was a by-product of the Riyadh-Tehran conflict would not be an overstatement.
Dialogue is the only way out of this lethal whirlpool. Tehran and Riyadh have to bring all their disputes to the table and seek to reach an agreement to end the bloody conflict ravaging the region before it is too late.
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