Al-Monitor| Bruce Riedel: Saudi Arabia is losing influence throughout the Fertile Crescent to its rival Iran. While Riyadh's position versus Tehran has been in decline for some time, the�trend�is accelerating.�Saudi setbacks are partly due to factors outside its control, but also due to inherent weaknesses in Saudi capacities.


The kingdom has had a friendly regime in Iraq since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait a quarter century ago and threatened to keep marching into Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province.�But for most of the 1980s, Saudi Arabia and Iraq were close partners in containing the revolutionary wave from Iran.�King Fahd provided Saddam with tens of billions of dollars in aid during the Iran-Iraq War;�without Saudi financial help, Iraq would have collapsed.�Fahd also rallied the other Gulf states to help Saddam and promoted Saddam as a power to work with in Washington.

In 2003, King Abdullah thought the American decision to oust Saddam without having another Sunni strongman to succeed him was rash and dangerous.�The Saudis were certain Iran would fill the vacuum.�Riyadh was especially suspicious of the role Ahmad Chalabi played in the�planning process of President George W. Bush's administration for postwar�Iraq.�The Saudis believed Chalabi was an Iranian agent.

Riyadh has been very reluctant to deal with any of the Shia governments that have been in power since the invasion.�The Saudis�delayed opening an embassy for years and appointing an ambassador.�Last month, they reassigned their ambassador out of Baghdad after reports of assassination plots.�No replacement has been chosen and the post is likely to remain empty.