Bilateral relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have experienced periods of tension as well as phases of diplomatic engagement and normalization. The tensions have been attributed to a range of geopolitical issues, including regional influence, oil production policies, and differing relationships with the United States and other Western countries. Diplomatic relations were suspended from 1987 to 1990, and they were more recently suspended from 2016 to 2023 again following certain issues like the intervention in Yemen, Iran embassy bombing in Yemen, incidents during the 2015 Hajj, the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, and the attack on the Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. However, in March 2023, after discussions brokered by China, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish relations. In October 2024, Saudi Arabia and Iran made efforts to improve their relations. In a meeting in Doha, Qatar, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud discussed the promotion of bilateral ties, Israeli attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, and Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel. The two sides emphasized the need to set aside their differences and work towards the expansion of relations.
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy established in 1932 and has maintained close strategic relations with the United States and the United Kingdom since the post-World War II period.. Iran's government alternated between absolute monarchy and increasing parliamentarianism, until the 1953 Iranian coup d'état increased Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's powers as monarch within a parliamentary system. The coup was supported by the army, the bazaar, the clerics, the United States and the United Kingdom. Both states were aligned with the Western Bloc in the Cold War against the Soviet Union, until the end of formal Iran-United States relations in 1980 following the Iranian Revolution. Throughout both the Cold War and the war on terror, the United States has continued to pursue a strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia.
Both countries are major oil and gas exporters and have clashed over energy policy. Saudi Arabia, with its large oil reserves and smaller population, has a greater interest in taking a long-term view of the global oil market and incentive to moderate prices. In contrast, Iran is compelled to focus on high prices in the short term due to its low standard of living given recent sanctions after its decade-old war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and its larger population.
In the Syrian civil war, Iran has supported the Syrian government militarily and with billions of dollars of aid, while Saudi Arabia was a major supplier of aid to rebel groups. Both governments have accused each other of supporting militant or extremist groups. Iran and Saudi Arabia have competing interests in the battle for dominance over their region.
As of 2026, the relationship between the two countries became once again strained and hostile following 2026 Iranian strikes on Saudi Arabia as part of 2026 Iran war which also targeted oil refineries and civil infrastructures inside Saudi Arabia.
Tensions After the Iranian Revolution, relations deteriorated considerably after Iran accused Saudi Arabia of aligning itself with the United States in the Persian Gulf region, representing U.S. interests rather than what it perceived to be those of the Muslim world. Saudi Arabia is concerned by Iran's consistent desire to export its revolution across the Persian Gulf region—notably in post-Saddam Iraq, the Levant, and further south. It is also opposed to Iran's controversial nuclear program.
Tensions between the two countries have waxed and waned. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran soured particularly after the Iranian Revolution, the commencement of the Iranian nuclear program, the 2011 alleged Iran assassination plot and the 2016 execution of Nimr al-Nimr. There have also been numerous attempts to improve the relationship. After the 1991 Gulf War there was a noticeable thaw in relations. In March 2007, President Ahmadinejad of Iran visited Riyadh and was greeted at the airport by King Abdullah, and the two countries were referred to in the press as "brotherly nations".
Since March 2011, the Syrian Civil War has also been a source of tension. Iran has provided financial and military support for the Syrian government, led by Bashar al-Assad, while Saudi Arabia has supported Syrian rebels, as well as Al Qaeda and ISIS even.
On 3 January 2016, Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran, Iran was ransacked following the execution of Saudi-born Shia Islam cleric Nimr al-Nimr. The execution prompted widespread condemnation within the Arab World and by other countries, the European Union, and the United Nations, with protests being carried out in cities in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Turkey. Following the attack on its embassy in Iran, Saudi Arabia broke diplomatic relations with Iran and the Saudi foreign minister said that all Iranian diplomats were to leave the country within 48 hours. For a long time now, Iran has wanted to be more involved in the affairs of the Middle East, including sharing benefits and responsibilities of being a dominant power in the region.
The difference in political ideologies and governing structures has also divided both countries. The Islamic Republic of Iran is based on the principle of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, which holds that a faqīh (Islamic jurist) should have custodianship over all Muslim followers, including over traditional governors, such as monarchs, and regardless of nationality. Iran's Supreme Leader is a Shia faqīh. The leader of the 1979 Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, was ideologically opposed to monarchy, which he believed to be un-Islamic. Saudi Arabia's monarchy, on the other hand, remains consistently conservative, and non-revolutionary. The king is politically tied to traditional religious leaders of the Arab tribes who support the monarchy and the king in his capacity as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and is thus given absolute obedience as long as he does not violate Islamic sharia law. However, Saudi Arabia has a Shia minority which has made bitter complaints of institutional discrimination against it.Saudi Arabia: Treat Shia Equally|hrw.org| 2009/09/02 Sometimes, it has gone as far as to call for the abolition of the monarchy. Another source of disagreement is the U.S. sanctions on Iran which have destroyed Iran's oil industry.
History
1920s–1970s: during Pahlavi Era
Saudi Arabia and Iran established diplomatic relations in 1929 following the signing of a Saudi-Iranian Friendship Treaty. Relations continued until 1943 when an Iranian pilgrim, Abu Taleb Yazdi, was accused of attempting to throw his vomit on the Kaaba, and was executed by the Saudi government. Relations were severed as a result in 1944. In 1946 Ibn Saud sent a letter to the Shah to resume the relations which restarted the connections.
However, relations were not active until the 1960s mostly due to differences in religious practices and Iran's recognition of Israel. In 1966 King Faisal of Saudi Arabia visited Iran with the aim of further strengthening relationships between both neighboring countries. The Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi reciprocated by paying an official visit to Saudi Arabia which eventually led to a peaceful resolution of the lands. Mohammad Reza supported Faisal's efforts regarding Islamic solidarity and actively contributed to the establishment of multinational Islamic institutions, including the Organization of the Islamic World Congress, the Muslim World League, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
In 1968, Saudi Arabia and Iran signed a demarcation agreement. When the United Kingdom announced it would withdraw and vacate the Persian Gulf in the late 1960s, Iran and Saudi Arabia took the primary responsibility for peace and security in the region. In the late 1960s, the Shah sent a series of letters to King Faisal, urging him to modernize Saudi Arabia, saying, "Please, my brother, modernize. Open up your country. Make the schools mixed women and men. Let women wear miniskirts. Have discos. Be modern. Otherwise I cannot guarantee you will stay on your throne." In response, King Faisal wrote, "Your majesty, I appreciate your advice. May I remind you, you are not the Shah of France. You are not in the Élysée. You are in Iran. Your population is 90 percent Muslim. Please don't forget that."
During the 1970s, Saudi Arabia's main concerns over Iran were firstly, Iran's modernisation of its military and its military dominance all over the region; secondly, Iran's repossession of the islands of Big Tunb, Little Tunb and Abu Musa in 1971 which challenged the claim of the United Arab Emirates over the islands. The dispute remains till today. But the relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia was never as friendly as between the years 1968 and 1979.Iran and Saudi Arabia: External "Game Cocks?" Henner Furtig.
The relationship between the two countries was not without its tensions in the mid-to-late 1970s. As the Shah attempted to build an Iranian security architecture in the region, the Saudis resisted these efforts. Instead, King Khalid attempted to build bilaterial security relationships with the smaller neighboring Persian Gulf states which has lasted till today. The Saudis also argued for more modest OPEC price increases in 1976 and 1977 than Iran wanted.
1979: Iranian Revolution Following the theocratic Iranian Revolution led by Khomeini in 1979, Iran started to openly attack and criticise the character and religious legitimacy of the Saudi regime. However King Khalid, the then ruler of Saudi Arabia, sent Khomeini a congratulatory message, stating that "Islamic solidarity" could be the basis for closer relations of the two countries. He also argued that with the foundation of the Islamic Republic in Iran there were no obstacles that inhibited the cooperation between two countries.
After the 1987 Mecca incident, in a public address in 1987 Khomeini declared that "these vile and ungodly Wahhabis, are like daggers which have always pierced the heart of the Muslims from the back", and announced that Mecca was in the hands of "a band of heretics."Khomeinis messengers in mecca Martin Kramer Upon this statement diplomatic relations between the two countries ended until 1991.
1980s: Iraqi invasion of Iran The Shia–Sunni conflict between the two countries also played a pivotal role in the Iran–Iraq War when Saudi authorities pledged US$25 billion of aid to the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi invasion of Iran increased Saudi concerns over stability in the region, hence their financial support to Iraq regardless of the "not-so-warm" relations between Baathist Iraq and conservative Saudi Arabia. In doing so, Saudi Arabia recognised its worries that revolutionary Iran was a far greater threat to its survival and the stability of the region. Saudi Arabia encouraged other Sunni Monarchs of Arab states of the Persian Gulf, including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, to do the same by giving financial support to Iraq.Bowen, Wayne H. The History of Saudi Arabia, Westport: Greenwood Press, 2008, p. 120. To cover the costs of the war Saudi Arabia dramatically increased its oil production. This increase in oil production by Saudi Arabia was aimed to weaken Iran's ability to fund its campaigns. However, this measure by Saudi Arabia also cost the Saudi government billions in revenue as oil prices plunged from over $30 a barrel to less than $15 by the mid-1980s.