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Joris van Duijne holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam and has recently published several articles on Gulf politics, including Joris van Duijne and Paul Aarts, “Saudi-Iranian Ties: Stocktaking and Look into the Future” (Durham, UK: SGIARWP 08-4, August 2008). He also works at Free Voice.
Saudi Arabia and Iran: Less Antagonism, More Pragmatism
The siege of the Grand Mosque in November 1979 came on the heels of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Juhayman al-‘Utaybi, the leader of the rebels, though, seemed not be very much inspired by what had happened next door. Whatever he may have noticed from Iran’s turmoil — and it might not have been too much because he never watched TV and rarely browsed newspapers — he deemed it to be irrelevant because Iranians were Shi‘ites, incorrigibly stuck in their heretic beliefs.
