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Saudi Arabia: Persian Gulf
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By the early 1980s, Saudi Arabia had gained full ownership of Aramco. Saudi support of Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War became increasingly problematic in the mid-1980s as Iran’s threats, especially regarding oil interests, nearly led to Saudi entanglement in the war. Iranian pilgrims rioted in Mecca during the hajj in 1987, causing clashes with Saudi security troops. More than 400 people were killed. This incident, along with Iranian naval attacks on Saudi ships in the Persian Gulf, caused Saudi Arabia to break diplomatic relations with Iran.
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Saudi Arabia has some of the most restrictive travel policies in the world, and advance visas are required for all foreigners desiring to enter. The only important exception are residents of the Gulf Cooperation Council nations. Nationals of Israel and those with evidence of visiting Israel will be denied visas, although in theory merely being Jewish in and of itself is not a disqualifying factor.
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Saudi Arabia’s relations with its smaller neighbors have been difficult on occasion, even with the fellow monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Qataris and Saudis clashed over a disputed border post in September 1992, leaving two dead. Qatar boycotted several GCC meetings after the skirmish. Qatar and Saudi Arabia were ... at odds over the civil war in Yemen in 1994 (Jane's Intelligence Review, August 1994).
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-->Saudi Arabia is the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen and the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia boats of being the world's leading petroleum producer and exporter.
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King Abd al-Aziz Al Saud merged warring Bedouin tribes to form Saudi Arabia in 1932. Succession has fallen in turn to his sons, governing through consultation with others in the royal family, religious leaders, and technocrats. A major supporter of the 1990-91 Persian Gulf war, the country served as operations base for coalition forces. Relations with the U.S. were strained after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks—carried out mainly by Saudi citizens. In this conservative society, underpinned by Islamic law, women live in veiled segregation. Saudi Arabia is keeper of Islam's most sacred cities: Mecca, where the Prophet Muhammad received the word of Allah, and Medina, where Muhammad died in A.D. 632.
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Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait clearly left Hussein in position to sweep right on into Saudi Arabia, much to the horror of the Saudis and their oil-peddling buddies in the Bush administration. In a fateful move, the Saudis invited the U.S. to move its military into their country, at first to prosecute the Gulf War, then as part of a continuing strategy to contain both Iran and Iraq.
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