Saudi Arabia works to curb Tehran’s influence

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Worried by Iran’s deepening involvement in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia has been working quietly to curtail the Shiite nation’s influence and prevent the marginalization of Sunni Muslims in the region’s hotspots.

Analysts say the tug-of-war between the two Middle East powers signals a new chapter in an uneasy relationship, one that has swung over the years between wariness and – at times – outright confrontation.

On the surface, both countries have maintained the civil front that has marked ties since a thaw in relations in the early 1990s.

“But events on the ground indicate that the two countries are working against each other as their differences are played out outside their borders,” said Ibrahim Bayram, a reporter for the Lebanese An-Nahar newspaper, who follows the country’s pro-Iranian Hezbollah group.

Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the region, has been putting its economic and diplomatic weight behind groups in direct confrontation with factions backed by Iran in every major conflict zone in the region – Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

The kingdom has also expressed concerns over Iran’s nuclear program. The U.S. contends Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, which Iran denies. But Saudi Arabia has fears even about a peaceful nuclear program because of the possible environmental threat and the potential for conflict between Iran and U.S. troops stationed in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

A Saudi official said Iran has sent messages expressing its desire to work with the kingdom to resolve the area’s conflicts. But the official said Iran’s actions speak louder than those messages, making Saudi Arabia cautious in dealing with Tehran. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The tense situation has also made the kingdom more determined to explore ways to find a settlement to Middle East upheavals on its own.

Saudi Arabia has stepped up attempts to reconcile Iraq’s fractious groups and has invited Iraqi leaders for talks, including anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Harith al-Dhari, head of Iraq’s influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars. It has also been talking to Iraq’s Sunnis to urge them to renounce violence and become more involved in the political process.

Elsewhere, the kingdom is supporting the U.S.-backed Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, who is facing street protests organized by Hezbollah meant to topple the government. The Saudis are also backing beleaguered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is trying to work out a new unity government with the militant Hamas group, which is allied to Iran.

The relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia has long been uneasy, especially after the 1979 Iranian revolution. Saudi Arabia sided with Baghdad in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and Riyadh and Tehran were openly hostile at the height of the conflict.

Iran frequently called on Muslims to overthrow the Saudi ruling family, seize its oil wealth and strip it of its role as guardian of Islamic holy places. Riyadh accused Tehran of trying to undermine its security and broke off relations in 1988.

But distrust between the two countries eased after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death in 1989, and diplomatic relations were restored shortly after the 1991 Gulf War.

Saudi analysts say Iran is now trying to wrest the traditional leadership role Riyadh has played in the region. But Saudi Arabia will “not allow Iran to expand at its expense as a big regional power,” said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi journalist.

“Iran is acting as a Persian state and not as an Islamic state,” he said. “The conflict in the region is not a Sunni-Shiite conflict. It’s a Persian-Arab conflict.”