Aug 4, 2017

After decades of estrangement, Saudi Arabia is trying to become an influential player in Iraq to provide an alternative to Iran. Its ambitions should be kept in check, as its Persian rival has considerable experience and advantages, but a resurgence of Saudi diplomacy is a positive step.

Twenty-seven years ago this week, the kingdom broke ties with Saddam Hussein's Iraq after his invasion of Kuwait and the threatened invasion of Saudi Arabia. After badly underestimating Saddam's ambitions, King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz decided that the Saudis would not be Saddam's next conquest and invited US President George H. W. Bush to save his throne. When Kuwait was liberated, Fahd hoped a Sunni general would remove Saddam and restore Iraq as the eastern shield of the Arab Sunni world against Shiite Iran. The Saudis despised Saddam's Shiite opponents, like Ahmed Chalabi, who they saw to be Iranian agents, but they welcomed Sunni ex-generals.

When President George W. Bush toppled Saddam, Fahd's successor, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, said America was handing Iraq to Iran on a golden tray. Saudi princes scoffed at American naivete in letting free elections empower the Shiite majority. Saudi jihadis flocked by the thousands to join the insurgency against the Americans and the Shiite governments in Baghdad. The Saudi Wahhabi clerical establishment at first cheered them on until al-Qaeda came home to attack the royals.

In 2015, the kingdom finally opened an embassy in Baghdad, but little followed. The first Saudi ambassador in decades left after his tour was cut short due to assassination threats. The Iraqi government asked him to leave.

In February, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir became the first senior Saudi official to visit Baghdad since then-Saudi ambassador to the United States Prince Bandar bin Sultan visited in May 1990. The Iraqi president attended the May summit in Riyadh with President Donald Trump and 40 Muslim leaders, even though it was dominated by Iran bashing. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi followed up with a visit to Riyadh in June, and Saudi Chief of General Staff Abdulrahman al-Bunyan reciprocated in July, leading to a partial border opening at Arar, the first since August 1990 on the 800-kilometer (497-mile) frontier.