الاتفاقية الأمنية السعودية-الإيرانية 2001م: السياق والدلالات والمآلات

Abstract EN

The aim of this study was to identify the context of the Saudi-Iranian security agreement signed in 2001 and its implications and outcomes, which had been achieved during the rule of Iranian President Mr.

Mohammad Khatami, where it was seen as a practical joint evidence of the willingness of the two parties to open a new page in bilateral relations between them.

The agreement also provided a practical reference for controlling various security aspects between the two countries, including terms and articles containing border issues, terrorism, money laundering and the fight against organized crime.

The study illustrated the new approach of Iranian policy based on openness and dialogue, a focus on mutual visits at the highest levels, and the convening of many agreements in different aspects between the two countries.

Therefore, the two countries have proved to have a tangible success in achieving rapprochement, as they have been able to move the nature of their relations from the stage of protocols and diplomatic aspirations to the depth of the functional relationship by establishing it within effective framework of the formal and popular levels.

The study showed also that Iran has sought unparalleled reliance on this agreement in order to end the international isolation imposed on it, led by the United States of America, with the aim of limiting its revolutionary and radical orientations with expansionist premises in the region.

On the other hand, the importance of this agreement to Saudi Arabia was determined to be, in practice, a sensitive test of Iranian intentions, which began to grow positively under President Mohammad Khatami.

Moreover, it has been clarified that no political stability or economic prosperity can prevail in the Arab Gulf region unless there is reconciliation on the ground, the Gulf states can only get too close to Iran from the Saudi corridor, and Iran can only develop its relations with the Gulf states through the same bridge.

Finally, the study concludes the dangerous and unfriendly turn in Iranian policy towards the countries of the region and Saudi Arabia in particular, which emerged in the last two years of President Khatami's term, and during the term of President Ahmadi Nejad's rule.

Iranian policy during this limited period has demonstrated that all attempts at rapprochement made by Saudi Arabia with Iran will be doomed to failure as long as this policy is managed in accordance with the requirements and obligations of the Wali al-Faqih institution, which directly depends on the capabilities of the Revolutionary Guards in implementing the directions of Iranian foreign policy.