Tehran - The state visits to countries like Venezuela,
Nicaragua or Bolivia have not done much for Iran's President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
Critics at home charge that the disputes in which the president is
embroiled - over Iran's controversial nuclear programme as well as
its influence in Iraqi and Lebanese affairs - should be settled right
in the neighbourhood, and not in Latin America.
For this reason, observers consider Ahmadinejad's first official
trip to Saudi Arabia, a key regional ally of the United States
dominated by the Wahabi sect of Sunni Islam, as geopolitically very
important.
Ahmadinejad has many times stressed that 'the enemies of Islam'
seek to sow 'disunity among Muslims.'
Disunity among Shiites, Sunnis or Wahabis is indeed not what
Ahmadinejad wants: to be isolated as a Shiite swimming against the
stream of a Sunni majority within the Arabic world is something he
cannot afford.
'More important than religion is race - Arabs and especially the
Saudis consider Iran and Iranians not as their equals and therefore
brand them as Ajam,' a political analyst in Tehran said.
The term 'Ajam' means non-Arab-speaker but is rather used for
'alien.'
The Saudis are furthermore a close ally of Iran's arch-enemy
the US and like many other Arab states would not want to see an Iran-
like Islamic model in their own country.
But the current crisis forces both countries - at least in the
short-term - to forget about religious and racial differences.
In Iraq a civil war could break out between the Shiite majority
and Sunni minority which none of the two sides could eventually win.
'Such a situation would just benefit the Zionists (Israel),'
Ahmadinejad says.
The pro-Iran Shiite Hezbollah group in Lebanon is increasing its
influence against Sunnis but at the same time, the Palestinians
prefer to settle their differences in Mecca despite financial aid
funnelled by Tehran to the ruling Hamas group.
Also Iran's atomic programme has caused concern in Saudi Arabia
and other Arab Gulf states.
Although the Arabs claim that Iran should have the right to pursue
civil nuclear technology in accordance with the Non-Proliferation
Treaty, none of the Arab leaders would like to see an atomic bomb
in the hands of the 'Ajams.'
However Ahmadinejad's rhetoric that Iranian nuclear technology
would benefit the whole region might find some approval in Riyadh,
according to observers.
In case of United Nations sanctions against Iran over the nuclear
dispute, Tehran has not ruled out a probable oil crisis. But experts
predict that that in such a case, the Saudis would be able to control
the crisis by increasing their oil production.
Tehran is quite aware of the fact that in an emergency case, the
Saudi would intervene in favour of the West. But despite financial
benefits and political loyalty, the Saudis would still prefer tp
avoid tensions in the Persian Gulf, especially at the Strait of
Hormuz which is the Gulf's international route for oil export.
'For Ahmadinejad Iran and Saudi Arabia are two important
pillars in the Islamic world, but the visit will show how stable
these two pillars are,' an Arab diplomat in Tehran said.
Ahmadinejad will be forced to replace his populism with diplomatic
skills during his talks with the Saudis. Besides politics and oil,
also the issue of pilgrimage plays a very important role for Iran.
Over 80,000 Iranian pilgrims go to Mecca every year and millions
have already registered for the coming years. The pilgrims would in
no way accept political differences as an excuse for being deprived
from visiting the 'House of God.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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