The projection of the Iran/Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates rivalry is present in the Iraqi theatre, in Yemen, in Syria; but it also concerns the Horn of Africa and Libya. If we add to these various conflicts the recent dispute between Qatar and the same Saudi + Emirates duo, which led to the break-up of the Gulf Cooperation Council in 2017, the current dynamic appears more centrifugal than integrative. 

Dorothée Schmid is Senior Research Fellow, Head of Ifri’s Turkey and Middle East Program

Article published in Politique étrangère, Vol. 85, No. 1, Spring 2020.