The Ideational Nature of Iranian - Saudi Interactions

The intense rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran is more complicated than disagreement over certain interests. The article tries to conceptualize the causes of tensions between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. The main question of the article is ‘what are the root causes of the tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East?’ The research hypothesis is ‘the root causes for the tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East are more on ideational interests than material ones. In fact, different types of ideational resources are the basis for the competing interests of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the very strategic region. Thus, to understand the root causes of confrontational policy between Iran and Saudi Arabia, one should try to understand the key ideational elements of the two countries which affect their foreign policy orientations in the region.