Tempest broils across the Gulf

by Gareth Smith August 3, 2011

written by Gareth Smith August 3, 2011

Saudi Arabia overtook Israel as Washington’s largest purchaser of arms in 2009 and their demand shows little sign of abating. Riyadh-Tehran relations are at their worst since the Saudis were funding Saddam Hussein’s legions to mow down Iranian infantry in the 1980s. The more recent escalation in tensions can be traced back to the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005, which tilted Tehran away from the pragmatic foreign policy of presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. President Ahmadinejad’s notion of an assertive Iran, and his trenchant criticism of Israel and the United States, struck an unsettling chord around much of the Islamic world and his invocations of the 12th Imam projected an evangelical Shia’ism which the Saudis detested. But even if Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, continues in his efforts to restrict the president it is unlikely there will be any kind of rapprochement with Riyadh any time

Gareth Smith

Gareth Smith was a distinguished journalist who reported from the Middle East for over two decades. He served as the Financial Times correspondent in Tehran, where he was the chief Iran correspondent from 2003, following his earlier role as Lebanon correspondent. Throughout his career, Smith covered Middle Eastern affairs for leading media outlets, including The Financial Times, The Guardian, and the BBC. He also contributed as an editor to Executive magazine. His work as a freelance journalist in the 1990s, focusing on the politics of Iran and Iraq, paved the way for his appointment at the FT. In 2009, he relocated to the west coast of Ireland, where he balanced freelance journalism with his passion for nature and the land.

Tempest broils across the Gulf

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