Outside interest in the regional politics of the gulf stems mainly from interest in gulf oil. The arena for ideological differences is primarily in the field of foreign affairs, both regionally and in gulf relations with the rest of the world. Despite the desire of Iran and Saudi Arabia and the other conservative Gulf States to cooperate, particularly in the area of regional security, their capacity to do so is inhibited by the collision of Arab and Persian nationalisms in the gulf. The settlement of the long intractable dispute greatly enhances regional stability in that it removes a major source of friction between two conservative Gulf States, enabling them to cooperate on a wide range of issues. The smaller states of the gulf—Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the seven United Arab Emirates shaykhdoms, and Oman—have little political or military power and could scarcely resist political ultimatums from any of the three big gulf states.