Problem with Iran is ideological, not sectarian, says Saudi scholar

Manama : “The real problem between Saudi Arabia and Iran is not sectarian, as many were led to believe, but rather an ideological dispute dating back to ancient history between Persians and the Arabs,” Dr. Mohammed Al Sulami, Saudi expert on Iranian affairs and a researcher on Iranian-Arab political, cultural and social relations, said.

During a panel discussion on “Iran from a Saudi Perspective: Change and Continuity since 1979”, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) on Sunday, Dr. Al Sulami pointed out that the role of religious leader Ruhollah Khomeini even before the Iranian Revolution of 1979 was to introduce the theocracy regime in Iran as he was in a higher political status, above the government itself.

This resulted in an imbalance in Iran’s external political relations, leading all countries into confusion between dealing with the Shah’s government and the revolutionary state led by Khomeini

“Because the government was unable to regulate its internal affairs firstly and the national security secondly, the overthrow of the regime by revolutionaries was easy,” he said.

He explained that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards represent the actual and current policy of Iran, which has made Tehran interfere in the internal affairs of many countries in the region such as Bahrain, Yemen, and Iraq.

Dr. Al Sulami added regarding the revolutionary guards: “People think that it is a myth, but in reality it is not. It is their project which they have their own aims, their own goals to achieve in the region, and they work for it.”

“The inability of the Iranians to undermine the status of Jerusalem through Karbala is due to the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, so they refrained from military intervention and turned to Umm Al Qura’s theory that states that Muslims should be convinced that Iran is the heart of the Muslim world,” he said. 

“However, this theory also failed by having Mecca as a holy destination.”

Dr. Al Sulami added that Saudi Arabia is facing another problem with Iran in the media level where Iran announces every time their initiatives to reconcile between them and other countries and then revokes the covenant and disregards these initiatives internally.

On the possibility of improving relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Dr. Al Sulami said there was no problem in normalising relations with Iran if it changes its hostile behaviour and stops interfering in the affairs of our countries.

“We must pay attention to the problems and gaps in which the Iranian regime is implementing. We hope that the situation will improve with Iran, but I am not really optimistic,” he said.

Commenting on the Iranian role in Qatar’s crisis, he said that “In the current crisis, the Qatari-Iranian relations have become obvious.”

“The relationship between the two parties is not new, but it stands out whenever there is a crisis in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and now Qatar is trying to use the Iranian card as an attempt to pressure the GCC and Egypt, but this will not work because who will be harmed is Qatar itself, “ Dr. Al Sulami said.