The Rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran and its Impact on the Geopolitics of the Middle East

Delivered Feb 24 2025 by Bernard Haykel at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. ** The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran are each pursuing a different vision for the future of the Middle East. Saudi Arabia wishes to develop and diversify its economy to manage the challenges of the energy transition and to lessen its dependence on oil revenue. The Kingdom labels this effort Vision 2030. By contrast, Iran mostly seeks to spread its revolutionary ideology of “resistance” with the aim of ending the influence and hegemony of the United States over the region as well as the destruction of the State of Israel. This can be labeled Vision 1979, after the year of the Iranian revolution that toppled the pro-Western monarchy. Haykel’s lecture will detail these different visions and the effects of the policies pursued by the governments in Riyadh and Tehran on the geopolitics of the Middle East and on their own respective societies.