While there are both material conditions and political causes of the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, there are also ideational conditions and religious causes, which give this rivalry its own peculiar character stemming from the mentalities and religious identities of the parties.
The Middle East is a region where any political movement appears as rivalry, a place where no one is without a rival, and where there are those who cannot be without a rival. There are two forms of competition: competition against one or more people, like chess, or competition with one or more people over something, like the 100 meters hurdle race. Competition in the Middle East is generally of the second form, and the two states which the struggle for influence in the Middle East has had them confront each other are the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
However, the American invasion of Iraq and the developments in Iraq afterwards, finally the Arab Spring, and especially the Saudi-led military intervention in Bahrain, accompanied by the current and probable winds of change, have intensified this rivalry. The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the Middle East is a regional struggle for influence, in which both sides have refrained from open hostility, and have aimed at steering the course of events, shaping developments, and influencing decisions in the region according to their political preferences and interests. Certainly, it is not the only struggle for influence in the region, and besides these two states, there are intra-regional and extra-regional, intra-state and non-state, direct and indirect, resolute and irresolute, and in-line and in-limbo parties of the rivalry.Relatively good relations between the two states turned into an effective rivalry during the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988, following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, when Saudi Arabia extended diplomatic and financial assistance to the Iraqi authority during the war. After 1989, due to the policies pursued by both the Rafsanjani and Khatami governments in Iran, there appeared a détente in bilateral relations. For example, in 1999, Khatami became the first Iranian president to visit Saudi Arabia.
While there are both material conditions and political causes of the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, there are also ideational conditions and religious causes, which give this rivalry its own peculiar character stemming from the worldviews and religious identities of the parties. The metaphysics of rivalry is as important as the physics of rivalry, and the most important variable determining the metaphysics of rivalry is the self-identifications of the parties. While the prevailing form of self-identification in Iran stresses that Iran is a non-Sunni and non-Arab country, one of the ‘others’ of Salafism as the prevailing worldview in Saudi Arabia is Shi’ism. This situation gives both sides the means to mobilize material and non-material resources more, to provide legitimacy more easily for their policies, to make the basis of their support more widespread, and to broaden the sphere of their policies. In particular, for Iran, Shi’a politics is an indispensible part of its struggle for regional influence and its rivalry with Saudi Arabia.
