Iran vs Saudi Arabia

Tensions have been mounting between Iran and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks. Saudi’s intervention this month into the long-running and long-underreported Yemeni civil war – attacking Shi’ah Houthi rebels fighting against the government of a predominantly Sunni country – has drawn sharp criticism from the other major power in the region.

“Those who pour oil on the fire must know that they will not be spared from the smoke that billows” cautioned Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in a thinly veiled reference to Saudi Arabia.

Iran’s diplomatic posturing, and the unsubstantiated allegations that it is directly aiding the rebels in Yemen, has less to do with a Shi’ah – Sunni battle for spiritual leadership of the Middle East, however, than it does with settling old political scores. It comes as Ahmedinejad’s warning to the Saudi government not to impose any restrictions on Iranian pilgrims during the Hajj, due to commence later this month, is met with the rebuke from Saudi Hajj Minister, Fouad al-Farsi, that Iran “should not take advantage of the pilgrimage for political purposes and its own agenda.”

When looking at the history of the Shi’ah theocracy, it is hardly surprising that Iran is pushing a political line on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The ultimate goal of many modern Islamist movements, despite the ancient signs and symbols they refer to, is the foundation of the Islamic State, casting off jahiliya, the ignorance, barbarism and corruption of the states ruling over predominantly Muslim populations. But where the Islamic state is realised, as with Iran, political Islam finds itself co-opted into the framework of rational-legal authority and can no longer rely purely on the religious traditions which inspired its formation. Even Khomeini had always stressed the primacy of temporal laws over matters of faith, declaring the government’s power of veto over elements of shari’ah that ran counter to the immediate interests of the state. It was this justification which allowed Iran to suspend the Hajj in 1987 following the Saudi massacre of Iranian pilgrims chanting the Ayatollah’s name. And it is this tragic event that underscores today’s tensions.

Writing for al Majalla, Paula Mejia argues that Iran’s political identity is tied to the image of Shi’ah martyrdom. But between the government’s brutal crackdown on protesters following the disputed elections this summer and its bowing to Western pressure over the country’s nuclear programme, it has found itself seeking a new political cause to champion its status as the righteous, defiant underdog against an old regional adversary with whom it has unfinished business. “The opportunity for political propaganda during the Hajj is clearly one that Iran does not want to miss,” argues Majia.

The Shi’ah – Sunni conflict has always had more to do with politics than religion. It has its foundations not in a dispute over doctrine, but who should succeed Muhammad as the leader of the Ummah. Centuries later, as Iran and Saudi Arabia lock horns on the eve of the holiest event in the Islamic calendar, their dispute has very little to do with spiritual differences, and everything to do with influence in the Middle East.