Transformations and Intellectual and Ideological Trends

USPA NEWS - Through an analytical review of Iranian-Saudi relations since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, this relationship witnessed a state of tension and conflict, and then this conflict shifted to a conflict between the two countries, so the state of hostility was the state that characterized relations between the two countries. The ideological dimension may represent one of the most important and serious causes of the conflict between them, but it has become clear that there is a threat to the reality of the entire region that reveals a long-term policy that has exceeded the ideological dimensions.

Undoubtedly, one of the most important results of the return of Saudi-Iranian relations is the end or eliminate of the agency's wars in the region and others, but let's discuss the issue historically and intellectually and its repercussions on the future of Arab and Islamic peoples. In a sense, we must be based on a theorizing that gives holiness to the return of these relationships

What does history tell us?

One of the most important differences that characterize Saudi-Iranian relations is the waterway between them (the Arabian Gulf or the Persian Gulf), especially as alternative names have been proposed by Arabs and Iranians at different stages. Some of them called for the launch of the Gulf (Persian Arab) and another opinion called (Islamic Gulf), but Iran was and still insisted on calling it the Persian Gulf. In the same context, contemporary Saudi-Iranian relations were distinguished between a kind of rapprochement and dissonance, due to the sensitivity of the Arabian Gulf region and the advantages of this region as it is rich in energy and gas sources. But ,due to Iran’s geopolitical position and regional role, it has been able to play an important and influential role in the region. Although there are significant and important economic relations between Iran and some Gulf countries, the relationship between them and Saudi Arabia in particular has continued to be complicated for long periods.

Hence, the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement has often been hampered by obstacles established by ideological terrain, as ideological differences have persisted between them for decades, and have been a major obstacle. Not to mention the external factor and international and regional interventions, those interventions that negatively affected this relationship, and I mean here specifically the United States of America, and how the role of the Americans was explicit at the strategic level, especially since the United States of America has retained the effectiveness of the ideological dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran and successfully employed it to support its subversive plan not only between Saudi and Iran but in all the region .This American role is also manifested in political life, and therefore in economic and social life among some Arab and Islamic societies

The future of Saudi-Iranian relations over the Arab peoples and the Islamic nation:

The widespread sense of the ideological content of feeling between the two countries had very different manifestations from one country to another in the Arab region, and these differences were associated with the civil situation and social systems among some Arab peoples, especially since sectarian belonging was always a strong cause of turmoil in the relations of the Islamic nation in general, and that it always resisted the existing regional order. The feeling of sectarianism, although manifests itself against the national sense of Arab peoples, is in principle, not strongly dominant, this was the theory of the leaders of the White House theorists of the policy of division, chaos and conflict within the Middle East. Therefore, some Arab countries were bound by this approach, and this defect was imposed by the reality of circumstances. As for the return of Saudi-Iranian relations, it is rare for the ideological factor to be present and influential, as long as diplomacy, friendship and the preservation of security and peace for the Arab and Islamic nations and the world are written.

Important Recommendations:

1. Concepts and visions of the future of the relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia should be reviewed, re-read and taken out of the context of sectarian and political conflicts. This is as a result of the great damage suffered by Arab societies, considering that the two countries represent an important center in Islam and its axis, which should revolve in the orbit of individuals and societies, so the dispute between them has become a weapon that defames violators and opponents of the state and justifies the policies of repression pursued by some political regimes against them. This is not evidenced by linking the term to violence as well as to proxy wars as mentioned earlier, in a way that has led to catastrophic consequences for the region and its people

2.The processes of transformation in Saudi-Iranian relations must be studied, in light of the local, regional and international transformations at the present time, and extrapolating the future of political thought of this relationship and the possibilities of its transformations, and their social and political weight in the region and the world, as well as the impact of the return of these relations on the ruling elites and social and political powers in Arab Homeland and region.

3.Since the media has become one of the most powerful modern communication tools that help the receiving audience to experience and interact with the times, the media also have an important role in explaining issues and putting them to public opinion in order to prepare them in the media, especially towards issues related to national security, in addition to what is happening on the world stage. So the media must deal professionally and transparently with the return of Saudi-Iranian relations, in the sense that they must support the return of this relationship, and not only cover or politicize it according to the interests of certain parties that may be the authority, opposition, political or financial parties, as the media has an active role in shaping the context of international relations in general. At the same time, the Islamic world should resume an intense media campaign through independent, undirected media outlets expressing support for the restoration of Saudi-Iranian relations, and moving away from ideology based on hatred.

Features of the future of Saudi-Iranian relations and their impact on religious discourse:

Religious discourse is the first influential in the dissemination and adoption of thought, and religious discourse plays an important role in the formulation and construction of society, as our contemporary world is witnessing multifaceted conflicts in which ethnic and religious differences are involved due to hardline religious discourse. Since the history of Saudi-Iranian relations is not separate from public religious discourse, but rather an extension of it and a negative secretion from it, and one of the symptoms of the inadequacy of public religious discourse, there are many currents in their various forms and trends that present their orientations belonging to the two axes, as it is the doctrine and project of the religious state on the basis of Islamic law. Accordingly, the religious discourse must be renewed between them, and a distinction must be made between sectarian and political discourse

What is the role of the ruling Arab regimes in light of the return of Saudi-Iranian relations?

The responsibility of the ruling regimes is to find a project characterized by the wide participation of all actors in society, starting with the state to civil society institutions, to individuals, with the aim of supporting the return of Saudi-Iranian relations, through reform, dialogue and belonging, participation, tolerance, freedom, and societal rehabilitation of this relationship, away from discrimination on the basis of Sectarian, religious and ethnic belonging.


Based on the above, religious institutions in both countries must address the misconceptions of religion promoted in society, and this is what the political leadership in Saudi Arabia has done and continues to work on. No party, whatever it is, has the right to monopolize religion for itself and its political interests and to confer sanctify its orientations

The return of Saudi-Iranian relations and their impact on the elimination of terrorism:

With the return of relations between the two countries and correctly, terrorism in all its forms will be eliminated, as the intellectual and cultural aspects of Arab societies will be addressed and reformed, because the dispute has become an integral part of a culture inherited by societies and peoples without reviewing and scrutinizing them. Therefore, it is easy for advocates of violence and terrorism to attract several segments of society. Thus, The issue is culturally linked to awareness totally, and liberation from the culture of terrorism and extremism is possible only through intellectual and cultural revisions, and the liberation of religion from what distorts religion itself by responding to the claims of extremists who use the sectarian factor to feed and disseminate their extremist ideas, and only Islamic countries can take these measures in a manner in general, and Saudi Arabia and Iran specifically.

Consequently, identifying the repercussions, consequences and problems associated with terrorist organizations, specifically after the emergence of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, in addition to the expansion of this organization in Libya and some other Arab countries, as well as the organization's carrying out many terrorist operations in a number of European countries, where these terrorist acts had major and serious international and international implications for the Arab and Islamic nations.



Professor of Political Thought
Dr.: Anmar Nizar Al-Droubi