ABSTRACT
Before they became arch enemies after the 1979 revolution in Iran, the Iranian and Saudi regimes were the best of friends. This chapter details this transformation by reviewing how they first teamed up to brutally repress insurgency movements in Oman and Yemen as well as oppose the Iraqi regime. The second half of the chapter discusses how Washington reacted to the 1979 Iranian revolution, first by encouraging Saddam Hussein to invade Iran, then by supporting his genocidal, near apocalyptic war for six years. This brief history demonstrates that the current conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia is rooted in neither a traditional sectarian rivalry nor a modern competition for regional domination. Instead, it is caused, conditioned, and informed by a US-led regime of multibalancing and regime change that shapes the security behavior of every state and non-state actor in the region.
