Saudi Arabia and Iran (PDF)

Banafsheh Keynoush is a foreign affairs scholar and an advisor to American private sector companies and policy centers in the Middle East. She received her PhD at Tufts University, USA, and was a visiting fellow at the King Faisal Center for Islamic Studies and Research, Saudi Arabia. A former assistant professor, she writes and speaks extensively on the Middle East.

From a Norwegian foreign affairs vantage point, where balancing a reputation as international peacemaker, giant oil producer, and close US ally is the main task, this book offers a refreshing view of the strategic importance of allowing Iran and Saudi Arabia to regain a balanced partnership in pursuit of security and lower ideological tensions. . . a carefully argued revelation.' – Tone Bleie, Professor, University of Tromsø, Norway, and Director of the International Research Group on Reintegration of Ex-Combatants (IRGR)


'Dr. Keynoush's book makes a timely intervention towards understanding the delicately poised Saudi-Iranian relationship. Extensively researched and historically nuanced in approach, it provides a much needed corrective to studies that view the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran through the sectarian prism in the main. By foregrounding the role of external actors like the United States in the region, and the shifting logic of power politics, the analysis effectively reframes a relationship that remains critical to the stability and security of the Persian Gulf region. A welcome addition to the literature on contemporary politics and international diplomacy, the book ought to be read by students and policy makers of the Middle East.' – Ayesha Jalal, Mary Richardson Professor of History and Director, Center for South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies, Tufts University, USA, and author of The Struggle for Pakistan: A Muslim Homeland and Global Politics