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.

[7] 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.

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.

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.

[20] When the United Kingdom announced it would withdraw and vacate the Persian Gulf in the late 1960s,[21] Iran and Saudi Arabia took the primary responsibility for peace and security in the region.

[25] 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.

Unlike America, Saudi Arabia, due to its very traditional Arab-Bedouin culture, did not break diplomatic relations with Iran even during the worst periods of tension following the revolution and during the Iran–Iraq War.

[41] Ayatollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of Iran at that time, declared a death sentence for Salman Rushdie for certain anti-Islamic remarks in his book The Satanic Verses published in 1988.

He claimed the Gulf Cooperation Council was too weak and hence failed to prevent the invasion of Kuwait, and stressed the need of the inclusion of Iran to strengthen such a regional agency to ensure stability.

[further explanation needed] On 23 June 1996, a massive truck bomb exploded near U.S. military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing nineteen U.S. servicemen and wounding hundreds.

Saudi Arabia, which was previously criticized by Iran because of its control over the main Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina and also because of its perceived reliance on the United States for security, also participated in the meeting.

At the OIC summit meeting, Saudi Arabia was represented by Crown Prince Abdullah (later King) and its Minister of Foreign affairs Saud Al Faisal.

Discussions included Persian Gulf security, efforts to increase global oil prices, the situation in Iraq and the development of a common geo-strategic approach to regional issues.

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, speaking at the opening session of the Shura Council said that it was in the interest of all the countries of the Persian Gulf to improve relations with Iran.

[48] Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, stated in one of his articles that Al-Qaeda's chief of operations "Saif al-Adel placed a call from Iran in May 2003 giving orders for the Riyadh bombings that claimed more than 30 lives, including eight Americans.

The agenda included propaganda to stir chaotic unrest in Iran with the help of opposition forces, social media, newspapers, magazines and websites, in order to pave the way for changing the Iranian political system.

[80][81][82] The major general of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in a targeted American drone strike on 3 January 2020 in Baghdad airport, when he was invited by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi as a mediator to talk about Iran's response to a previous message from Saudi Arabia.

The 6th round of talks on a ministerial level stalled, but after a meeting in Amman, Jordan, in December 2022, Iran's Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud signaled that both countries would be "open to more dialogue".

[84][85] In January 2023, the Saudi foreign ministers Al Saud speaking at a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos reiterated that "Riyadh is trying to find a dialog with Iran".

Pakistan's opposition leader Imran Khan visited the embassies of Iran and Saudi Arabia and met their head of commissions in Islamabad on 8 January 2016 to understand their stance regarding the conflict.

[97] Following the reconciliation deal, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi favourably received an invitation from Saudi Arabia's King Salman to visit the kingdom on 19 March 2023.

The deal brokered by the People's Republic of China, known as the 'Beijing Agreement', a month earlier ended the diplomatic rift between the two nations "to bring security and stability to the turbulent Gulf region", according to the statement.

On October 11, 2023, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman received a phone call from Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi to discuss the outbreak of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.

[122] In early October 2024, during a conference on the anniversary of the Al-Aqsa Storm operation, held in Tehran, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi announced his upcoming visit to Riyadh to discuss a ceasefire and the atrocities committed by Israel.

After visiting Doha, Beirut and Damascus, Araghchi reaffirmed his stance to not further escalate the war in the Middle East while at the same time supporting resistance movements against Israel.

[32] According to Le Figaro, on 5 June 2010, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told Hervé Morin, then Defense Minister of France that: "There are two countries in the world that do not deserve to exist: Iran and Israel.

Even when there was growing criticism against the former Iranian President, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, for his alleged hostile foreign policy in connection to Israel,[139] Saudi Arabia recognised that Iran was a potential threat, and a regional power that was in position to create trouble within their borders.

[139] Prior to this visit, Saudi National Security advisor Prince Bandar bin Sultan, seen as one of the most pro-American figures in the region, had made a trip to Tehran to voice his government's interest in building harmonious relations with Iran.

"[141] In 2007, President Ahmadinejad was the first Iranian leader to attend the annual summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which was established in 1980 in part to contain the ambitions of revolutionary Iran.

[144][145] On 11 October 2011 US Attorney General Eric Holder accused Iran of planning to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States Adel Al-Jubbair.