ABSTRACT
Saudi Arabia and other conservative Arab governments have sought to portray the Iranian Revolution as outside of the mainstream of Islamic culture, both because of its origins among the Shiites, a Muslim minority, and its challenge to existing Islamic authorities. In a remarkable and unprecedented step, Saudi Arabia went beyond its traditional strategy of wooing Western support to acquire medium-range missiles from the People's Republic of China to boost its defense capabilities. One of the major beneficiaries of the transformation of Arab and Islamic politics as a consequence of the Iranian Revolution and the Islamic resurgence has been Saudi Arabia, the guardian of the holy sites Mecca and Medina. While the role of Wahhabi Islam has been the central pillar of the Saudi state and foreign policy, Saudi Arabia's emergence as the largest Arab and Middle Eastern producer of petroleum has transformed the context of Saudi Arabia's existence.
