Up until the Trump administration, the United States was nervous about these rising tensions, and tamped down moves by the Saudi government to take serious military action against Iran for fear of destabilizing the entire region—and a major source of petroleum for the world.
By William O. Beeman Women Against Military Madness Newsletter
Vol. 36 Num. 2 May/June 2018

Regional map of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and surrounding countries.
As the U.S. provides more arms sales to Saudi Arabia, here’s a look at the kingdom within its regional context, and its history with the U.S. from the end of World War II up to more recent times.
The Middle East region is once again a tinderbox as tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran are rising to new heights.
Although hostility between the two states has been simmering for decades, two new factors have served to cause their mutual enmity to heat up further. The first is the presidency of Donald J. Trump in the United States. The second is the rise of Mohammad bin Salman (MBS in the vernacular) as heir-apparent to the Saudi kingship. Both of these leaders are hostile to Iran, and highly friendly to each other. This heightened alliance has created a new dynamic relationship in the Middle East. MBS is young and ambitious, and seeks a new and heightened role for Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and the world. Trump is anxious to flex American muscle wherever he is able. For both, Iran is a highly suitable target.
Saudi Arabia has long been a rentier sleeper state in the Middle East. It had two primary identifiers on the world scene: its petroleum exports and its guardianship of the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina with the attendant annual Hajj pilgrimage. It has been a staunch ally of the United States since after World War II, when U.S. commercial interests coincided with the Cold War need to keep the Soviet Union at bay.
The U.S. “Twin Pillars” Policy: The Shah of Iran and Saudi Arabia
The United States was petrified that the Soviet Union would invade Iran, as it did briefly after the war, and make its way to the oil fields of Iran, Southern Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula. The U.S. then forged an unusual policy—the “Twin Pillars” policy to serve as a bulwark against the Communists. Iran under the Shah was one of the “pillars.” Saudi Arabia was the other. When the British pulled out of the region in 1972 for financial reasons, American fear of the Soviets went into overdrive.
The United States under Nixon, Ford, and Carter sold astonishing amounts of military weaponry, planes, and defense equipment to both Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Shah used American financing to beef up his military forces and repress dissent. The Saudi royal family already had its population under tight control, so it used the American funds to increase the size of its military.
The Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1978-79 was cataclysmic in reshaping the landscape of the region. Within a year of the revolution Iran and the United States had become implacably antagonistic toward each other. Iran accused the United States of supporting the Shah and his repressive regime. The United States was infuriated at the occupation of the American Embassy and the holding of its personnel captive for 444 days. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken and have never been restored.
U.S. Weaponizes Saudi Arabia As Its Ally
This left Saudi Arabia as the sole remaining major military power in the region allied with the United States, and American administrations continued massive arms sales to the Saudis down to the present, even after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. As an American ally, Saudi Arabia also went along with post-revolutionary U.S. hostility toward Iran.
As a result of earlier American investment in the military of the region, both Iran and Saudi Arabia have two of the largest armies in the world. Iran is eighth in size with 523,000 troops, and Saudi Arabia is 21st in size with 227,000 troops. Both have military troop strength greater than France, Germany, or Israel.

On April 5, 2018 people protested the Saudi Arabian war that is devastating Yemen as Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman came to the U.S. to make deals with Silicon Valley tech titans. Trump signed off on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia the same day.
‘There is a strange “wild card” in the current Saudi-Iranian situation. This is Russia under Vladimir Putin, who is forging positive relations with both Iran and Saudi Arabia. This is paradoxical, since the original “Twin Pillars” policy was designed to thwart Soviet ambitions in the region. It appears that whatever transpires between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Russians may now be the ultimate winners.’
The West should be careful about its oil interests.
The acceptable face of Islam bashing for left leaning Westerners is Saudi Bashing.
Saudi Bashing (indeed Gulf Arab bashing) is something that the Western chattering classes and journalists will happily do all day long.
If you constantly abuse, belittle, gossip about and find fault with people you should not expect them to remain your friend forever, as every ring leading college bitch tends to eventually discover.
The MBS Putin high five should be a warning to the Western chattering classes that they need to desist from Saudi bashing or it could seriously harm Western interests in the Middle East.
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