ABSTRACT
Other powers, however, were beginning to have a significant influence on the internal development of the shaykhdoms. No longer remote from the daily life of the Coast, Saudi Arabia and Iran were gradually taking their place as important components of the political structure of the area and showing themselves serious threats and possible rivals to British supremacy in the G ulf region. They were alike in the way in which they came to prominence: during the 1920s they were consolidating themselves, and did not hesitate to use force as a means of self-assertion; but during the 1930s they mellowed their respective strategies, finding diplomacy their most effective weapon. Three striking differences between them must be pointed out, though. First, although both countries laid claim to part of the Arab side of the Gulf, it was not until it became known that oil might be discovered there that Saudi Arabia clearly voiced its claim ; Iran, by contrast, upheld its own claim unremittingly (recently, though, it relinquished part of its claim, at almost the same time as it occupied the remainder). Second, Saudi A rabia’s
interest in the G ulf shaykhdoms was with their inland regions; Iran ’s with their littoral. Third, and most important, Saudi Arabia is an Arab country, with close links with the G ulf shaykhdoms; and Iran, though a Muslim country is non-Arab. This last fact is essential to any understanding of G ulf politics, particularly where they concern territorial disputes.
