Saudi Arabia Vs Iran. The battle for Dominance?

Introduction:

Although they both are major Muslim majority countries and they both follow Islam very strictly. But they fiercely oppose each other. In fact, they consider each other as enemies. Saudi Arabia is more of a Sunni Muslim and Ahle Hadees majority country and Iran is a Shia Muslim country. Saudi Arabia follows a monarch based system while Iran follows the democratic system. But the supreme leader in Iran is above the democratic system and can't be changed. However, who will claim dominance in the Middle East?

Statistics about the Middle East::

1. There are 22 countries in the Arab world consisting of the Middle East and North Africa. 2. Saudi Arabia is the most important country in this region. 3. Turkey and Iran are countries in this region. 4. The Middle East is one of the most volatile regions of the World. 5. This region has the greatest density of the Muslim population. Though there are many other religions as well. 6. Two countries namely Yemen and Syria are the most explosive countries. There has been a war going on in both these countries. Iraq is also part of the middle east 7. The Middle East is the region where superpowers fight for dominance. 8. Its the region where half of the world oil is found. That is why World powers like America are pretty involved in this region. 9. This region also caters to the Israel Palestine conflict. So this region is pretty important. 10. This region is full of natural resources such as oil, gas, gold, etc. Most of the biggest oil-producing countries are in middle east.

What is Middle East:

The Middle East, the lands around the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula and Iran and, by some definitions, sometimes beyond. The central part of this general area was formerly called the Near East, a name was given to it by some of the first modern Western geographers and historians, who tended to divide what they called the Orient into three regions. Near East applied to the region nearest Europe, extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf; the Middle East, from the Persian Gulf to Southeast Asia; and the Far East, those regions facing the Pacific Ocean.

Major Countries fighting for Dominance:

1.Saudi Arabia 2.Iran 3.UAE 4.Egypt

Fight for Dominance:

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been fighting for regional dominance in the Middle East in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. The fight is to install people who are allies of either Saudi Arabia or Iran. In Iraq, Iran has been more successful. In Yemen war has been going on. The familiar point between these two countries is that both are supported by superpowers. Saudi Arabia is supported by America. Iran is supported by Russia. America supports more openly then Russia. Although Iran has the mightier army and intelligence then Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has a healthier economy and is investing much heavily in the Army then Iran. Saudi Arabia is more influential in this region than. Iran with countries like UAE and Egypt supporting it. In Yemen, Saudi Arabia is supporting the legal government while Iran is supporting the Houthis. Till now no one is winning but the human right situation is pretty ominous in the country.

Crisis of Syria:

The crisis in Syria is of a different nature. There is a nexus of Bashar-al-Assad, Russia, and Iran against the nexus of America, Saudi Arabia, and opposition. There has been a lot of killing of innocent children and people. But no one accepts the responsibility of such barbaric attacks. Although now there is a ceasefire between the groups still peace agreement has been reached.

Role Of Israel:

1. Israel also has fierce hostility towards Iran. That's the main driving force for Saudi Arabia, America, and Israel nexus. 2. Israel's government officials including ministers have greatly threatened Iran many times. Similarly, Iran has threatened Israel many times. 3. Israel has been eagerly warming up its ties with Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries to form a bloc against Iran. Though the relationship has never been made public. But the warmness of the relationship can be seen from the fact that Israel Prime Minister visited Oman and the visit was given a great deal of publicity. This shows that now the Arab countries want its people to accept the fact that Israel is an important world force that no one can deny. 4. Israel is critical of Iran because Iran supports Palestinian freedom fighters which Israel believes are causing terrorism against its people.

Role of America:

America is the greatest assailant of Iran due to three main reasons: 1. Iran is a staunch enemy of Israel. In many instances, Iran has threatened to wipe out Israel. So America considers it as the enemy of Jews. 2. Secondly, the Russia Iran alliance and the battle of dominance with Saudi Arabia further ignite this enmity. 3. After Trump won the elections and became president, one of the first things he did was to revoke the nuclear deal with Iran and impose sanctions. Trump at instance shown enmity against the Iran regime and called the rulers of Iran unhuman.

Conclusion:

According to my analysis, the battle of dominance will never end. Due to this war, many people will be forced to leave their homes and would eventually. The superpowers are taking advantage of these two countries and are killing Muslims. Although these two countries are oil-producing but are not diplomatic terms till now. I hope these two countries resolve their issues. Now Pakistan is trying to act as a mediator between these two countries and now the tensions are defusing out.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East 2. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/09/04/israel-is-doing-all-the-dirty-work-against-iran/ 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Saudi_Arabia_relations 4. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42008809 5. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/saudi-arabia-iran-steps-indirect-talks-nyt-191005171357718.html