It could be, but so far it has not. Iran is Shia and Saudi Arabia is Sunni. And the two do not work well together. Both will "operate together" in the sense that they'll both fund their own flavor of militants and if they just happen to be attacking the same place, all the better. Just don't expect any joint celebrations to last long.

The Saud's have found bigger problems closer to home, enough to keep the Israelites on the back burner. They are also happy that Israel is focused on Iran and their budding nuclear bids. That doesn't mean that there's no occasional Saudi-backed militia suicide jockeying up to some Israeli interest from time to time, but that's the downside of the Saudi regional policy to export it's militants across the region.

In addition, the Saudis are in a proxy war with Iran over Yemen. With Iran funding the Shia Houthi rebels with some success, Saudi Arabia is more focused on stopping the Houthi's than sparring with Israel.

With the Iranian's backing, the Houthi militias threaten some areas of Saudi Arabia and also have the potential to topple a Saudi-backed Sunni Muslim government and replace it with an Iran-backed Shia government in Yemen. Being on the southern doorstep of Saudi Arabia, this is an absolute non-starter and they have poured considerable resources to deny Iran a victory. Going as far to get actual Saudi troops involved in the conflict. Spoiler: Saudi forces suck ass. It has not gone well so far.

And that's not getting into Iranian nuclear weapons, which if Iran gets, makes SA the only regional power without them. This outcome is absolutely not allowable for the Saudis as well. This also means that Iran's nuclear ambitions also has the side effect of strongly aligning Saudi goals with Israeli goals. In that both countries don't want Iran to have a nuclear stockpile.

With all this going on, it's hard to see a Tehran - Riyadh team up anytime soon. I see the two sparring with proxy wars for a long long time.

It could be, but so far it has not. Iran is Shia and Saudi Arabia is Sunni. And the two do not work well together. Both will "operate together" in the sense that they'll both fund their own flavor of militants and if they just happen to be attacking the same place, all the better. Just don't expect any joint celebrations to last long.

The Saud's have found bigger problems closer to home, enough to keep the Israelites on the back burner. They are also happy that Israel is focused on Iran and their budding nuclear bids. That doesn't mean that there's no occasional Saudi-backed militia suicide jockeying up to some Israeli interest from time to time, but that's the downside of the Saudi regional policy to export it's militants across the region.

In addition, the Saudis are in a proxy war with Iran over Yemen. With Iran funding the Shia Houthi rebels with some success, Saudi Arabia is more focused on stopping the Houthi's than sparring with Israel.

With the Iranian's backing, the Houthi militias threaten some areas of Saudi Arabia and also have the potential to topple a Saudi-backed Sunni Muslim government and replace it with an Iran-backed Shia government in Yemen. Being on the southern doorstep of Saudi Arabia, this is an absolute non-starter and they have poured considerable resources to deny Iran a victory. Going as far to get actual Saudi troops involved in the conflict. Spoiler: Saudi forces suck ass. It has not gone well so far.

And that's not getting into Iranian nuclear weapons, which if Iran gets, makes SA the only regional power without them. This outcome is absolutely not allowable for the Saudis as well. This also means that Iran's nuclear ambition strongly aligns Saudi goals with Israeli goals. In that both countries don't want Iran to have a nuclear stockpile.

With all this going on, it's hard to see a Tehran - Riyadh team up anytime soon. I see the two sparring with proxy wars for a long long time.

It could be, but so far it has not. Iran is Shia and Saudi Arabia is Sunni. And the two do not work well together. Both will "operate together" in the sense that they'll both fund their own flavor of militants and if they just happen to be attacking the same place, all the better. Just don't expect any joint celebrations to last long.

The Saud's have found bigger problems closer to home, enough to keep the Israelites on the back burner. They are also happy that Israel is focused on Iran and their budding nuclear bids. That doesn't mean that there's no occasional Saudi-backed militia suicide jockeying up to some Israeli interest from time to time, but that's the downside of the Saudi regional policy to export it's militants across the region.

In addition, the Saudis are in a proxy war with Iran over Yemen. With Iran funding the Shia Houthi rebels with some success, Saudi Arabia is more focused on stopping the Houthi's than sparring with Israel.

With the Iranian's backing, the Houthi militias threaten some areas of Saudi Arabia and also have the potential to topple a Saudi-backed Sunni Muslim government and replace it with an Iran-backed Shia government in Yemen. Being on the southern doorstep of Saudi Arabia, this is an absolute non-starter and has poured considerable resources to deny Iran a victory. Going as far to get actual Saudi troops involved in the conflict. Spoiler: Saudi forces suck ass. It has not gone well so far.

And that's not getting into Iranian nuclear weapons, which if Iran gets, makes SA the only regional power without them. This outcome is absolutely not allowable for the Saudis as well. This also means that Iran's nuclear ambition strongly aligns Saudi goals with Israeli goals. In that both countries don't want Iran to have a nuclear stockpile.

With all this going on, it's hard to see a Tehran - Riyadh team up anytime soon. I see the two sparring with proxy wars for a long long time.

It could be, but so far it has not. Iran is Shia and Saudi Arabia is Sunni. And the two do not work well together. Both will "operate together" in the sense that they'll both fund their own flavor of militants and if they just happen to be attacking the same place, all the better. Just don't expect any joint celebrations to last long.

The Saud's have found bigger problems closer to home, enough to keep the Israelites on the back burner. They are also happy that Israel is focused on Iran and their budding nuclear bids. That doesn't mean that there's no occasional Saudi-backed militia suicide jockeying up to some Israeli interest from time to time, but that's the downside of the Saudi regional policy to outsource it's militants across the region.

In addition, the Saudis are in a proxy war with Iran over Yemen. With Iran funding the Shia Houthi rebels with some success, Saudi Arabia is more focused on stopping the Houthi's than sparring with Israel.

With the Iranian's backing, the Houthi militias threaten some areas of Saudi Arabia and also have the potential to topple a Saudi-backed Sunni Muslim government and replace it with an Iran-backed Shia government in Yemen. Being on the southern doorstep of Saudi Arabia, this is an absolute non-starter and has poured considerable resources to deny Iran a victory. Going as far to get actual Saudi troops involved in the conflict. Spoiler: Saudi forces suck ass. It has not gone well so far.

And that's not getting into Iranian nuclear weapons, which if Iran gets, makes SA the only regional power without them. This outcome is absolutely not allowable for the Saudis as well. This also means that Iran's nuclear ambition strongly aligns Saudi goals with Israeli goals. In that both countries don't want Iran to have a nuclear stockpile.

With all this going on, it's hard to see a Tehran - Riyadh team up anytime soon. I see the two sparring with proxy wars for a long long time.