In Iran, Saudi Arabias longtime rival for influence in the Middle East, there is little expectation that King Abdullahs death will alter the deep enmity that has helped fuel hostilities and proxy battles throughout the region, including in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain.
In the near future, there will not be any letup between the two adversaries, said Nader Karimi Juni, a political analyst in Tehran. Iran and Saudi Arabia will never be friends. Each country has a hostile ideology toward the other.
President Hassan Rouhani and others offered their official condolences, but not much more was said publicly. Abdullah died Friday at age 90.
Press TV, the state-run English language news service, reflected the official view when it noted that, under Abdullahs rule, Saudi Arabia became an incubator for groups promoting extremism, including Al Qaeda offshoots such as Islamic State, which regard Iran as a bitter enemy.
The ill will between Saudi Arabia and Iran predates Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution. But many in Iran recall bitterly how Saudi Arabia backed former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war that left hundreds of thousands dead.
The geopolitical rivalry between the two regional giants has often become entwined with sectarian concerns centering on Islams two major branches. Officials in both Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia view themselves as global leaders of Islam.
Many Saudis do not view Shiites as true Muslims, and Iranian clerics routinely condemn Saudi Arabias severe Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, which is also embraced by many Sunni militants who target Shiites as apostates.
In recent years, Iran has more than held its own in its regional rivalry with Saudi Arabia, despite Riyadhs oil riches and its close ties to the United States. That has clearly frustrated Saudi officials and their allies in Washington. Saudi Arabia, like Israel, also views with alarm the prospect of U.S.-Iranian political rapprochement, should world powers finally reach an accord on Tehrans nuclear program.
The collapse this week of the Saudi-backed government in Yemen and the rise there of the Houthi minority, regarded by Riyadh as an Iranian proxy was a blow to the late kings regional strategy. Saudi Arabia now faces the disquieting prospect of an Iranian ally governing along its southern border. But that was just the latest regional setback for the monarchy.
The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which toppled Hussein, a Sunni, led to an upsurge in sectarian tension throughout the region. The U.S. invasion also had the unintended consequence of flipping Iraq toward Iran. Iraqs Shiite majority gained power in Baghdad. Riyadh fumed and funneled support to Iraqs disgruntled Sunni minority.
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Saudi king's death unlikely to change rivalry with Iran