Mideast rivals meet to defuse tensions

Financial incentives?
The Saudis have taken a large new role in mediating in the Palestinian power struggle between President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement and the Islamic militant group Hamas, which runs the Palestinian government. Observers say one of Saudi Arabia’s main concerns — and that of the U.S. — is that Hamas has turned to Iran for money.

Saudi Arabia, whose predominant population is conservative Sunni Muslim, sees Shiite Iran as a danger to the region and to the monarchy’s power, especially as money and weapons are channeled from Tehran to Hezbollah in Lebanon and to Shiite militias in Iraq.

More broadly, most Arabs are Sunnis and they are exhibiting strong anti-Shiite and anti-Iran sentiments amid suspicions about Iranian intentions in the region — including rumors of a campaign to convert Sunnis to Shiism.

More and more Arabs have been highlighting Iran’s non-Arab roots, with some, like the editor of the Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh, even insinuating recently that what is good for Iran is also good for Israel — the Arab world’s traditional foe.

Rumors of a faith change
Tensions heightened even more last month after Saudi King Abdullah referred to the rumors that Iran is backing a drive to convert the Middle East to Shiism.

“We are following up on this matter and we are aware of the dimensions of spreading Shiism and where it has reached,” Abdullah told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyassah. “The majority of Sunni Muslims will never change their faith.”

Iranians, for their part, accuse Saudi Arabia and other U.S.-allied Arab states of misconstruing Iran’s aims and they allege Saudis support Iraq’s Sunni-dominated insurgency that targets Shiites in daily car bombings and other attacks.

Oil-rich Iran and Saudi Arabia have been at loggerheads — off and on — for decades, especially since the 1979 Shiite revolution toppled Iran’s shah and swept Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power. But their leaders apparently felt the need to try to calm the situation, diplomats and analysts said.

“Sitting and talking is a good start for defusing tensions,” said Mohammad Mohtadi, director of the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran.

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