The Iranian research institute Iranian Diplomacy is claiming that Saudi Arabia is closely following and attempting to derail the nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 nations, which are moving this week from Muscat to Vienna.

The institute wrote in its latest report (Arabic link) that was published on the Arabi21 news site:

Saudi Arabia sees any progress or success in the nuclear talks with world powers as a defeat to its diplomacy in the region. Saudi media is not interested in any positive side of the negotiations and is trying to present the points of contention between Iran and the U.S.

Moreover, the institute noted (Arabic link) the Saudi position is similar to the Israeli stance on the nuclear talks, claiming the two countries agree on the importance of the talks’ failure.

Riyadh believes any agreement between Iran and the powers will be at the Saudis’ expense and that of their interests in the Middle East. It fears that the nuclear agreement will bring rapprochement between Western countries and Iran in the near future, which will lead these countries moving away from their old regional ally, Saudi Arabia.

In addition, the Iranian news report emphasized Saudi politicians do not really want to improve relations with Iran, despite their common interest in fighting ISIS.

Moderate Sunni powers in the Middle East, especially in the Gulf region, are afraid the Iranian nuclear issue will detract American attention from attempted Iranian hegemony in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

In Confidence Game: Losing American Support, the Gulf States Scramble, which was published in the January 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, Jonathan Spyer described the source of the Gulf states’ unease:

Instead, those who have the most to lose are the oil-rich states of the Persian Gulf, especially Saudi Arabia. Control of the Gulf, which is vital to global energy supplies and thus the global economy as a whole, has been the linchpin of American policy in the Middle East for the last half-century. A strong alliance with the Arab monarchies that dominate the Gulf, fueled by credibility of American power, has been at the core of this policy, and this—American military credibility and steadfastness to longstanding foreign policy partnerships—is what appears to be eroding, and causing nothing short of alarm among Gulf leaders.
This, of course, is because of Iran. A central element of Iranian regional policy is expanding Tehran’s sphere of influence into the Persian Gulf, throughout the Middle East, and across the Islamic world. At the moment, the U.S. appears to be softening its approach to Iran, offering the easing of sanctions in exchange for a phantom slowing of the Iranian nuclear program, but without any Iranian concessions in terms of their support for terror or efforts to undermine neighboring regimes. As a result, the Arab states of the Gulf are now terrified at the prospect of abandonment, compounded by what they see as the Obama administration’s questionable competence with regard to the Middle East.

[Photo: Zuhair A. Al-Traifi / flickr]