Cold War In The Islamic World: Saudi Arabia, Iran And The Struggle For Supremacy.

484 Pages·2019·3.05 MB·English

by  Dilip Hiro

COLD WAR IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
ALSO BY DILIP HIRO
Non-fiction
The Age of Aspiration: Power, Wealth, and Conflict in Globalizing India (2016)
The Longest August: The Unflinching Rivalry Between Indian and Pakistan (2015)
Indians in a Globalizing World: Their Skewed Rise (2014)
A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Middle East (2013)
Apocalyptic Realm: Jihadists in South Asia (2012)
After Empire: The Birth of a Multipolar World (2010)
(Short-listed for Mirabaud Prize, Geneva, 2011)
Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Iran (2009)
(On Financial Times’ List of Best History Books of the Year)
Blood of the Earth: The Battle for the World’s Vanishing Oil Resources (2007)
The Timeline History of India (2006)
The Iranian Labyrinth: Journeys through Theocratic Iran and Its Furies (2005)
Secrets and Lies: Operation ‘Iraqi Freedom’ and After (2004)
(On Financial Times’ List of Best Politics and Religion Books of the Year)
(Long-listed for the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing)
The Essential Middle East: A Comprehensive Guide (2003)
Iraq: In The Eye Of The Storm (2003)
War Without End: The Rise of Islamist Terrorism and Global Response (2002)
The Rough Guide History of India (2002)
Neighbors, Not Friends: Iraq and Iran after the Gulf Wars (2001)
Sharing the Promised Land: A Tale of Israelis and Palestinians (1999)
Dictionary of the Middle East (1996)
The Middle East (1996)
Between Marx and Muhammad: The Changing Face of Central Asia (1995)
Lebanon, Fire and Embers: A History of the Lebanese Civil War (1993)
Desert Shield to Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War (1992)
Black British, White British: A History of Race Relations in Britain (1991)
The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict (1991)
Holy Wars: The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism (1989; Re-issued, 2013)
Iran: The Revolution Within (1988)
Iran under the Ayatollahs (1985; Re-issued, 2011)
Inside the Middle East (1982; Re-issued, 2013)
Inside India Today (1977; Re-issued, 2013)
The Untouchables of India (1975)
Black British, White British (1973)
The Indian Family in Britain (1969)
Fiction
Three Plays (1985)
Interior, Exchange, Exterior (Poems, 1980)
Apply, Apply, No Reply & A Clean Break (Two Plays, 1978)
To Anchor a Cloud (Play, 1972)
A Triangular View (Novel, 1969
DILIP HIRO
Cold War in the
Islamic World
Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Struggle
for Supremacy
A
A
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Copyright © Dilip Hiro 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
Dilip Hiro.
Cold War in the Islamic World: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the
Struggle for Supremacy.
ISBN: 9780190944650
Printed in the United Kingdom on acid-free paper
CONTENTS
Spelling and Transliteration vii
Preface ix
Prologue xix
1. Introduction 1
2. Black Gold and America Shape Iran and Saudi Arabia 21
3. Faisal’s Enduring Imprint; the Shah’s Vaulting Ambition 39
4. An Islamic Revolution in Iran; Initial Misreading by the Saudis 55
5. Iran’s Second Revolution; A Millennial Challenge to the
House of Saud 71
6. The Iran-Iraq War Steels Khomeini’s Regime 93
7. The Saudi-Iranian Race to Influence the Muslim World 111
8. Saudi Arabia at the Center of the Twentieth Century’s
Last Major War 125
9. Saudi-Iranian Détente 141
10. The Gulf Rivals’ Eastward March 163
11. Iran’s Nuclear Saga; and Iraq Averts an Inter-Sectarian War 201
12. The Arab Spring—Reversed by a Saudi-backed
Counterrevolution 241
13. Multi-front Cold War between Riyadh and Tehran 275
14. Trump Fuels Gulf Rivals’ Cold War 313
15. Conclusions 351
16. Epilogue 363
Notes 391
Select Bibliography 435
Index 437
v

SPELLING AND TRANSLITERATION
A word about place names, and the spellings of Arabic, Persian and
Urdu words. A foreign word written in italics at the first mention
appears in roman later. There are many ways of spelling Hussain and
the Islamic prophet’s name. I have chosen Hussein and Muhammad,
and stayed with these for the sake of consistency. There is no standard
way of transliterating foreign words. In each case, I have chosen one of
the most widely used spellings in the English-language print media—
except when the spelling of an author is different from mine. There I
have reproduced the published spelling in the quoted material. As
someone familiar with Arabic and Persian, I know that the spelling
Hizbollah is more precise than the alternative Hezbollah, and that the
spelling of Iran’s supreme leader as Khamanei is as accurate as
Khamenei. While using Hizbollah and Khamanei for the first time, I
mention the alternatives in brackets. In April 2015, when writing
about two top Saudi princes—Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef
and Muhammad bin Salman—Western journalists resorted to using
their respective monograms, MBN and MBS. This practice is unsuitable
for a book with an index. I have therefore opted for Bin Nayef and Bin
Salman in the manner of Bin Laden used for Osama bin Laden.
The Epilogue, which takes the narrative to May 2018, is not
indexed.
Dilip Hiro,
London, May 2018
vii