Where Has Iran Gone Right and Saudi Arabia Terribly Wrong?
by Zaher Mahruqi |
September 28, 2014
Saudi Arabia and Iran have been in a constant struggle to be biggest players
in the Persian Gulf and the greater Middle East. Who is winning this war of
pushing and shoving?
Leadership
Expectations do breed frustrations and for the Muslim world no country has
been far from the aspiration of its people than Saudi Arabia and that has
resulted in much resentment against the Kingdom.
The undisputable center of the Muslim world in terms of faith and economic
might is Saudi Arabia. Had the Saudis taken their natural leadership role,
more that a billion and half people would have been under its wings. The
Kingdom however has failed to utilize its wealth and innate ideological
position and instead of leading, it generally lacked focus and commitment to
the Muslims and instead submitted to the will of the West.
Whereas the Kingdom has landed itself where the Muslim world perceives her
as a puppet to the Americans and others, Iran has painfully stood her ground
against them and against all odds. So as Iran's great Satan, the US, has
had its global standing decline due to bloody wars that happened to be
mostly against Muslims, Iran projected itsel as the leader in defending
Muslims against the "crusaders".
With millions affected by US wars, the Saudis were automatically associated
with the atrocities committed by the Americans against Muslims; thanks to
the strong "bond" between the two nations. More devastating is
the-by-default association of Saudi Arabia to Israel as the two countries
are both strong allies of the US and both staunch enemies of Iran, Hezbollah
and Hamas among others.
Qatar, a miniature neighbor of Saudi Arabia, has been far more active in
matters related to the Arab and Muslim world than its giant neighbor. Qatar
was a staunch opponent to American war against Iraq in 2003, supporter of
resistance movements, and supporter of democratically elected Morsi
government in Egypt.
Be it as it may, Qatar cannot fill the gaps that were intended to be filled
by Saudi Arabia and Iran has used Saudi incapacities to take the leading
role to its full advantage. Iran stands today as a leading figure as it
relates to supporting struggles of Muslims against "crusaders" and Zionists.
Saudi Arabia is seen to be on the enemy's side.
While the Saudis have, overtime, managed to come across as either
indifferent or complacent to struggles of the Arabs and Muslims around the
world, Iran has always been upfront in its support for those struggles.
With its support for Hamas for example, it has managed to create for itself
an image of a balanced nation who only cares for Muslims no matter what sect
they belong to.
To the contrary, Saudi Arabia has been openly anti Shia for example. Worse
yet, it has been anti resistance-movements including even the ones fighting
against Israel. It has spent billions of dollars supporting those fighting
against those fighting for just causes of the Muslim world. In effect, Saudi
Arabia is perceived as having been on the front line supporting all sorts of
anti Muslims campaigns. The major ones being its open criticism of
Hezbollah in its war against Israel in 2006 and its muted stance as Israel
massacred Palestinian children in the latest war against Gaza.
Leadership cannot be separated from independence and politically, Iran is an
independent state which pursues its political goals free from external
interference. Iran chooses who to associate with, who to trade with and who
to support. While the Saudis appear politically confused and more often
than not simply ride the wave of American foreign policy, Iran has almost
always been on the opposing side.
You would remember the strong US rhetoric against Bashar Al-Assad when the
Syrian revolution started, at which point the Saudi had a very loud
anti-Assad voice. Then a couple of years passed and Bashar gave up his
weapons of mass destruction and the Americans and the Europeans softened
their anti-Assad rhetoric and characteristically the Saudis followed suit.
Iran on the other hand steered clear from conflicts that seemed to harm
Muslims, at least overtly, save those involving Israel and its support for
Syria.
On the technological front, Iran is a far more independent State than Saudi
Arabia could ever be. While Saudis are so dependent of America in matters
of education, Iranians have their own unique educational system. There is no
such thing as an American University of Iran. In Saudi Arabia, almost every
city has an American university named after it.
On manufacturing, Iran manufactures all sorts of products; from civilian
products to highly sophisticated military and medical equipment. While the
Saudis spend billions procuring weapons from Europeans and Americans, Iran
is now challenging Israel in the production of military hardware and in deed
has reached a point of being almost self-sufficient. In fact, had it not
been for sanctions, Iran would be a net exporter.
When Iran manages to hack into an American drone and lands it safely, it
comes across as a mighty Muslim nation at the door gates of Western
technological advancements. Saudi Arabia on the other hand appears to be
only capable of purchasing weapons from the West and squandering invaluable
resources purchasing hardware that it is not willing to use in support of
the Arab and Muslim causes.
Iran produces high-tech military gadgets and appears capable of using them
against the enemies of Muslims if and when the necessity arises; at least
that is the Muslim public's perception. The Saudis, despite their wealth,
are still years behind Iran as far as technology is concerned.
Intelligence in Engagement
The Shia Sunni rift that is proving bloody across the Middle East appears
more inflamed by the Saudis than is by Iran. Iran is definitely involved in
these Shia Sunni struggles but Iran engages far more intelligently than
Saudi Arabia. Iran is perceived as being reacting to Sunni rise up against
the Shia while Saudi Arabia is seen as igniting and directly supporting
bloody anti-Shia campaigns.
Iran is no doubt involved in the Shia and Sunni confrontations in Yemen,
Bahrain, Syria, Iraq and even Afghanistan, but does so very carefully. Iran
wants a much needed positive image for itself and is pursuing it with much
success as the result is that the Shia communities in all these conflicts
are perceived to be the underdogs who are only fighting for their survival.
In the intellectual bout between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Iran is flying high
despite the odds being against it. Iran has far more enemies than friends
but yet manages to stay afloat and does a good job of limiting the damage
caused by biting sanctions and massive propaganda against it. Enemies of
Iran do inadvertently help Iran improve her image by anti-Iran obsession
that is portraying an infidel-led world that is eager to see a
technologically-advanced Muslim nation fail.
The Persian state successfully makes her enemies speak for her as their
animosity towards it which are translated into biting sanctions and threats
of attack are perceived by Muslims around the world as nothing more than an
envious crusading bunch against a mighty Muslim nation. Iran's version of
Islam is questionable but the Ayatollahs appear more interested in religion
than the Saudi Royals whom Muslims perceive as only interested in the
worldly goodies. Unless the strong Sunni nation takes its position
seriously, Iran will continue to make gains in the world psyche especially
Muslim psyche.