Many analysts oversimplify the political battle between Iran and Saudi Arabia as one pushed by sectarianism or Shi’a-Sunni tensions that has formed the 2 states’ outlook and actions within the Center East. Nevertheless, their political variations are literally rather more complicated and deeper rooted.
One of many major variations is that the Saudi regime shouldn’t be a theocratic regime like Iran, however relatively a monarchy with a hybrid construction, neither wholly secular nor wholly non secular. The Saudi sectarian motion was a reactionary response to the threats posed by the 1979 Revolution in Iran and the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s regime. In distinction, sectarianism is the principle part of the revolutionary Khomeini regime and it’s magnified in its structure to say its personal hegemonic geopolitical ambitions. Due to this fact, when sectarian id turned incompatible with Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Imaginative and prescient and its improvement, the nation embraced Saudi nationalism as a substitute, whereas Iran shored up its sectarian id as a result of altering it will imply the collapse of the system.
To raised perceive the sectarian variations in each nations, you will need to first shed some gentle on the historic context in addition to examine the ideological and political variations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Iran’s ideological technique
After the 1979 Revolution, the Khomeini regime turned Iran from a secular state right into a fundamentalist theocracy, setting the scene for a darkish historic interval within the area that centered on magnifying sectarian variations. What distinguished the regime, and that is usually missed by extra sympathetic observers within the West, is that Iran underneath the Khomeini regime was an Islamic Revolution first, and an Islamic Republic second. The revolution did and doesn’t exist to good the state; the state — the republic — is just a method to help and ideal the revolution. In consequence, the revolution is prioritized.
The supreme chief is the chief of the revolution, not of the republic, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is sworn to defend the purity of the revolution from enemies each inside and with out. Due to this fact, because the institution of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, the regime has sought to export its revolutionary ideology in an effort to ascertain Iranian hegemony throughout the Islamic world. This has prompted the American diplomat Henry Kissinger to comment on a number of events that Iran must resolve “whether or not it needs to be a nation or a trigger.”
So, the principal theme that unifies Iran’s revolutionary ideology is the rejection of international dominion over Iran, particularly the affect of the USA. The most well-liked slogans are Anti-American and anti-imperialist ones that assert Iran’s need to strike a politically and ideologically impartial path — “neither East nor West.” So as to withstand American hegemonic energy, it sees its responsibility as supporting susceptible folks, and Iran views the Shiites in Arab nations and the Palestinians as falling into this class.
Thus, there are two pillars of Iran’s international coverage: Sectarianism and an “Arab Avenue” technique that emphasizes Iran’s dedication to the Palestinian trigger and opposes Western imperialism — primarily Washington’s hegemonic schemes within the area — though sarcastically it does so to say its personal hegemonic geopolitical ambitions. Placing its international coverage into follow, Iran has pursued a two-pronged strategy, using each onerous and delicate energy methods.
When it comes to onerous energy, Iran has supplied monetary, ideological, and materials help to non-state teams to assist promote its strategic pursuits, notably Shi’a armed militias in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, in addition to Hezbollah, the Fashionable Mobilization Forces in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and in addition Sunni teams, equivalent to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas. As for its delicate energy, it makes use of its media empire, universities, charitable organizations, government-sponsored initiatives, and worldwide revolutionary actions. The goal of that is to promulgate Khomeinist and anti-Western ideology at dwelling and overseas so as to compel the plenty to stand up in help of Khomeinist revolutionary ideology and in opposition to what are thought-about to be “illegitimate” types of authorities.
Because the revolutionary ideology of the Khomeini regime is anti-monarchical, Iran makes use of its international coverage to trigger unrest and topple Arab Gulf monarchies, however its major focus has been to problem and undermine Saudi Arabia’s legitimacy because the custodian of Islam’s holiest websites. Saudi Arabia has responded in varied methods through the years within the face of those threats.
Saudi’s response and the rise of Sunni fundamentalism
The Khomeini regime didn’t solely upset Saudi Arabia when it criticized and embarrassed its rulers — the nation that features the 2 holy mosques, in Mecca and Medina — by suggesting they weren’t sufficiently virtuous to behave because the custodians of Islam’s holiest websites, however Iran’s revolutionary message additionally contributed to an Islamic rebellion throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Khomeini’s name for the abolition of the ruling Home of Saud grew ever louder and the Saudi management started to worry they might undergo the identical destiny because the shah.
The siege on the Grand Mosque confirmed the fears among the many Saudi elite in regards to the challenges they confronted. On Nov. 20, 1979, solely 10 months after the revolution in Iran, a Sunni Islamist rebel or Ikhwan rebellion led by Juhaiman al-Utaibi seized the Grand Mosque of Mecca in a direct problem to the Home of Saud’s management within the Holy Land. The seizure was motivated by a need to depose the Saudi monarchs and restore Islamic rule over the birthplace of the Prophet. Utaibi and his males berated the al-Saud household for being corrupt and influenced by the West. To fight this problem, Islamist fundamentalism was aggressively strengthened in Saudi Arabia.
Furthermore, Riyadh additionally sponsored the manufacturing of an expansive array of anti-Shi’a and anti-Iranian tracts, designed to focus on the sectarian aspirations of the Khomeinist regime and mitigate its extra common attraction all through the area and the world. Saudi Arabia needed to debunk Khomeini’s imaginative and prescient of Islam by underscoring its Shi’a id. As well as, Saudi-funded instructional establishments and mosques related Riyadh to non secular students the world over, from Nigeria to Indonesia. Quite than countering the extremism emanating from Iran’s Islamic Revolution with a reasonable model of Islam, Saudi Arabia determined to beat Khomeini at his personal sport — a choice the present Saudi management has since mentioned was a mistake.
The Saudi regime shouldn’t be a theocratic regime like Iran however a hybrid construction, neither wholly secular nor wholly non secular. The state is answerable for the political enviornment and the non secular institution oversees tradition, society, and faith. Saudi Arabia has taken on totally different identities through the years and the adjustments have been pushed by political narratives. Firstly, non secular nationalism was established after the creation of the state in 1932. Secondly, starting within the Sixties a pan-Islamic transnational id was promoted within the context of the Chilly Struggle with Gamal Abd al-Nasser espousing a pan-Arab platform. Thirdly, within the aftermath of the Khomeini revolution, the Eighties had been dominated by the Sahwa (Islamic Awakening) motion, a part of a sort of sectarian bidding warfare in opposition to Iran, strengthened by the significance of Saudi Arabia because the birthplace of the faith and the host of its two most holy websites. Lastly, underneath the management of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (higher often called MbS) there was a retreat into Saudi nationalism to make it appropriate with the management’s 2030 Imaginative and prescient.
Nationalism vs. sectarianism
Because the sectarianist Sahwa motion, which flourished within the Eighties because of the menace of the Khomeini regime, was reactionary, it didn’t final. It is because Saudi Arabia is a Muslim state, not an Islamist revolution, and faith is there to maintain the legitimacy and stability of the nation. Saudi Arabia’s precedence is the state and nation and when sectarian id turned incompatible with the dominion’s 2030 Imaginative and prescient and its improvement, it embraced Saudi nationalism, which has unified the nation. “Saudi First” international coverage places the pursuits of the state and nation first and means the nation is now not held hostage to political occasions and regional ideologies.
In distinction, as a result of Iran is at the beginning an Islamic Revolution and the state is a method to help and ideal the revolution, it has remained sectarian. The latest ascent of Ebrahim Raisi to the presidency is proof that the state exists to good the revolution. From the outset, it was clear that Raisi didn’t run for the presidency, relatively he was supported by the supreme chief to defend the revolution from each its inner and exterior enemies.
Raisi’s {qualifications} are appropriate with Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei’s necessities not just for being president, but in addition as a possible successor. His dedication to the revolution is obvious. Raisi labored in Iran’s judicial system as a prosecutor within the early Eighties and oversaw the deaths of hundreds of political prisoners. He was additionally elected to the Meeting of Specialists in 2009, a clerical physique tasked with monitoring and choosing the supreme chief. In 2016, Raisi was appointed head of Astane Qods Razavi, Iran’s financial conglomerate that manages the investments of the Mashaad-based Imam Reza Shrine — holding this place reveals that he was trusted by Khamenei.
You will need to observe that Raisi, like Khamenei, embodies the principal theme that has unified Iran’s revolutionary ideology, which is the rejection of international dominion over Iran, particularly the affect of the USA. That is mirrored in his assertion that “relationships with the West or the East should not be a precedence for a future authorities, however a realistic transfer to protect the nationwide curiosity.” This additionally reveals that revolutionary ideology is used for nationalist ends.
The good shift in Saudi id from sectarianism to Saudi nationalism, contrasted with Iran’s hardening of its adherence to the ideas of the 1979 revolution, proves that political methods can change relying on the necessities of the time, whereas ideological methods by no means do. Quite the opposite, they turn into extra entrenched as a result of change means the top of the system.
Najat AlSaied is a Professor at American College within the Emirates, Dubai, UAE. The views expressed on this piece are her personal.
Photograph by Michael Gruber/Getty Photographs
