When Security Imperatives meet Sectarian Temptations: the Tehran-Riyadh rivalry

Abstract

This paper discusses how security considerations and sectarianism have served Iran and Saudi Arabia as mutually reinforcing tools in their strife to secure their positions in the struggle for regional influence and standing. It premises that no single factor can explain this conflict and that its proper understanding requires a more comprehensive approach that links factors and analyses their joint impact. The main hypothesis is that an analysis of the impacts of security and sectarianism, both individually and as mutually reinforcing dynamics, allows for a more credible understanding of the Iran-Saudi Arabia conflict. The discussion studies the approaches that both sides have adopted as they dealt with regional developments and made efforts to preserve their legitimacy and internal stability. It contextualizes these approaches with the rivalry during the era of the Shah, the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, the end of the Cold War, the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and the Arab uprisings of 2011, particularly the conflict in Syria. This study proposes that understanding how sectarianism and security considerations have impacted both countries’ decision-making since 1979 can help explain how security has become an essential element in the Tehran-Riyadh conflict.