Saudi Arabia, once the sole leader of the Mediterranean regions, fears of losing its imperialistic power.
by Raihana Sayeeda Kamal
The recent attack on Saudi oil tanker, series of drone and missile attacks targeting the Arabian military and the kingdom of gulf’s direct accusation of Iran’s involvement in it may trigger a war between the two neighbouring countries – Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The Sunni majority Saudi Arabia and Shia majority Iran have already been engaged in proxy wars over establishing hegemony on the Middle East since the Syrian war, although they did not involve in any direct war.
The feud between the countries accelerated with the expansion of Iran’s influence on their neighbouring countries – Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain.
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| Fire and smoke billows from a tanker that attacked in the waters of the Gulf of Oman. AFP |
Shia led government established its dominance over Iraq after the US invasion in Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein. By the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iran got the way to create dominance over Iraq.
After that, Iran expanded its imperialistic move by offering support to Bashar Al-Assad of Syria while Saudi Arabia and America waged war in the country.
Then, the rise and strengthening of Shia following Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi in Yemen made Saudi Arabia more suspicious about Iran.
Saudi Arabia, once the sole leader of the Mediterranean regions, fears of losing its imperialistic power.
Along with America, Israel and other alliances, Saudi Arabia directly or indirectly is trying to restrain Iran.
Based on the recent attack, Arabian prince Salman has put pressure Donald Trump to respond to the devastating strike and The US is sending troops to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi may not have any diplomatic relationship with Israel but they are backed by them with the US.
In 2015, Israel and Saudi Arabia opposed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear arms control agreement with Iran.
Saudi Arabia also welcomed Donald Trump’s decision of withdrawal from the joint comprehensive action agreement.
For the recent attack, though Yemen’s Houthi has been claiming it’s responsibility, Saudi Arabia, and the US accused Iran of hitching the plot.
Iran, in response to the accusation, announced “all out of war” if they are attacked.
If Iran and Saudi Arabia wage a war, the whole Middle East may have a devastating outcome.
Since the gulf wars, no war brought peace in the Middle East.
And the western involvement in the middle eastern conflicts cause catastrophic disaster.
The Syrian civil war backed by foreign allies, President Bashar Al-Assad having Iran and Russia on his side, and Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic having the support of the US and Saudi Arabia, caused three to five lakh casualties making it the second deadliest war.
The war started with armed protests followed by Arab Spring to overthrow President Bashar-Al-Assad.
As the outcome of the war, ten million people have been displaced. Children became the worst victim to the war. The use of chemical weapons caused hazardous impact on the health of the people.
Since 2015, Saudi-military has been leading a war against Houthis in Yemen. The war took lives of ten thousands of people making it worst humanitarian crisis in the country.
Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states began an air campaign against the Houthi in Yemen believing that the guerrilla group is militarily backed by Shia led Iran.
The war caused world’s worst man-made humanitarian disaster in Yemen.
At least seven thousand people were killed by the Saudi-led coalition air strikes. About 80 percent of the population – 24 million -- need humanitarian assistance, and food security.
More than three million people including two million children are acutely malnourished and extremely hungry.
Millions of lives have already been lost due to the conflict. If Iran and Saudi Arabia wage more wars, it will have a devastating impact on the whole Arab. It will have an impact on their oil economy as well.
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