Rivalry and Mistrust Mark Relationship of Saudi Arabia and Iran

The Saudi execution of 47 persons early this month, including prominent Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, severely aggravated an already icy bilateral relationship with Iran.

(L–R) Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani of Bahrain and foreign ministers Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Sabah of Kuwait, Khalid bin Mohammad al-Attiyah of Qatar, Yusuf bin Alawi of Oman, Adel al-Jubeir of Saudi Arabia, Khalid bin Ahmad al-Khalifa of Bahrain, and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan of the Emirates at an extraordinary GCC meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Jan. 9, 2016. Ahmed Farwan/AFP/Getty Images

Much diplomatic maneuvering succeeded in bringing arch enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran face-to-face in Vienna last October at the international negotiations on the Syrian conflict. Defeating the Islamic State (ISIS) and its myriad horrors across the Middle East and elsewhere was a major motivation for some governments doing the bridging.

The Saudi execution of 47 persons early this month, including prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, severely aggravated an already icy bilateral relationship. Al-Nimr lived in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich eastern region, where Shias have long been considered mistreated by the Sunni majority.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened “divine vengeance” for the executions; protesters soon set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sudan, and Somalia almost immediately then expelled Iranian diplomats from their capitals.

The mutual enmity between the current two regional powerhouses goes back to the 7th century.