Saudi Arabia, Iran target Mideast's sectarian discord

At a meeting in Riyadh, leaders of the two nations discussed Iraq's tensions and regional Shiite-Sunni mistrust.

By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the March 5, 2007 edition

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TEHRAN, IRAN - The leaders of rival regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia are vowing to curb the sectarian strife that is increasingly defining conflict across the Middle East.

The pledge to calm tensions, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his first official visit to meet Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh on Saturday, illustrates the growing regional alarm over Shiite-Sunni violence. Sectarian bloodshed has soared in Iraq – often at the hands of allies and coreligionists of these rival nations – and is threatening stability in Lebanon.

Yet while both leaders prefer to blame outside actors for the increase in sectarian tension – their promises to support peace notwithstanding – elements in Iran and Saudi Arabia have helped to finance sectarian militias in Iraq and, in the case of the Saudis, engaged in heated sectarian rhetoric. Still the leaders stated that the "greatest danger" to Islam is the "attempt to fuel the fire of strife between Sunni and Shiite Muslims" and called for unity, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said the pair discussed "the plots carried out by the enemies in order to divide the world of Islam." The two leaders, he said, "were fully aware of the threats of our enemies and we condemned them."

The archconservative Iranian president was almost certainly referring to the US, which has accused elite Iranian units of supplying weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq to target American soldiers. The militias are behind many sectarian killings.

Though Saudi Arabia is a close US ally, some Saudis and other Sunni benefactors have backed Sunni insurgents and Al Qaeda in Iraq, which has fueled the civil war there. The Iran-Saudi promise to lower sectarian passions comes after months of public warnings against Iran's rising power.

"[Talks] with Saudi Arabia could allay Arab and US uneasiness," says Davoud Hermidas Bavand, a professor of international law at Alameh University in Tehran. "Before this new strategy, the main problem [in Iraq] was Sunni elements ... behind the scenes, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi are supporting [them]," says Professor Bavand. "But there was a change: All of a sudden, Iran appears the main troublemaker in Iraq."

The White House, which charges that Iran's commitment to nuclear power is a cover to make atomic bombs, is adding pressure with saber rattling, often repeating that "all options are on the table." Sunni leaders have warned ominously of a destabilizing "Shiite crescent" in the region, though in Iraq the worst violence by far has been carried out by Sunni militants. Ahmadinejad's uncompromising rhetoric, in which he most recently compared Iran's drive for nuclear power to a hurtling train without brakes, has raised concern anew among Sunnis.

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