Iran and Saudi Arabia are now moving ahead towards the post-cold war era, with features that have not completed yet. The cold war lasted for 40 years since the Western-backed Iranian revolution in 1979 until 2019. It was obviously present in the media war, diplomatic war, accusations of supporting terrorism, and interfering in states' internal affairs. Most often this war looks like a doctrinal war between Sunni and Shia, or an ideological war between the two theories of Salafi and Governance of the Jurist (Wilayat al-Faqih).
The Saudi Ideology has changed smoothly over the last years of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, and then more rapidly and clearly under King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz. The Salafi Theory is no longer the intellectual basis of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Then the war context has turned into conflict between a more modern Saudi theory and a more reactionary Iranian theory.
In the summer of 2019, Saudi intellectual transitions and Iranian doctrinal expansions have led to a new chapter of the conflict. Some analysts are talking about a hot war between Washington and Tehran in which Riyadh will support the first. But Riyadh itself realizes that the tension between USA and Iran will not lead to a war between them.
(The whole study is available at Cairo Center for Strategic Studies)
Saudi Arabia, King Salman, USA, Iran
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