While Saudi Arabia Goes to War Abroad, It’s Simmering at Home

To hear Saudi leaders tell it, the kingdom is under constant threat from Iran. But graver threats of their own making lurk at home.

Saudi soldiers fire artillery toward three armed vehicles approaching the Saudi border with Yemen in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, on April 20, 2015. Hasan Jamali/AP

To hear Saudi leaders tell it, the primary threat to the kingdom’s stability is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Worried over Washington and Iran’s slowly improving relationship, Saudi Arabia has projected an increasingly militarized and sectarian foreign policy aimed at countering Iran’s alleged hegemonic aims in the Middle East.

Yet tension with Iran is only one element of an increasingly complicated mosaic of threats to Saudi Arabia. In fact, the gravest dangers to the kingdom come from within.

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