The agreement reached between the islamic republic of Iran and the world major powers concerning Iran’s nuclear program was welcomed by the international community at large with the exceptions of israel and for obvious reasons and as well as the large group of the sunnis monarchies lead by the kingdom of Saudi arabia .
this rejection and to a limited extend is a result of the incompetence of the kingdom of saudi arabia ,it also assert strongly and confirms the validity of the arab majority public opinion that Saudi arabia is responsible historically for erecting intellectual and social barriers that lead the sunni muslim world to it’s current backwardness status compared to it’s shia muslim nations .and since the end of world war 2 and with the independence of the majority of the arab nations saudi arabia goal has been to assume the leadership role within the arab and the islamic world and become it’s voice at the international fora as it’s enjoy the means to do so in comparison with the rest of the muslim countries .
in this context as saudi arabia is the birthplace of islam and home of the two holy places mecca and medina where each year millions of muslims make their pilgrimage has made of saudi arabia a symbolic place of a religious and a moral force within the islamic world
moreover saudi arabia has immense natural resources and a leading position of oil exporter that assures its essential place in the world economy even though it remains a backward county .
This is unheard of throughout the history of civilization. The dependency of the world economy on this energy will guarantee that Saudi Arabia will hold a certain prominent role in international politics, but one which will not last forever because of the new energies that are set to eventually replace oil.
Various circumstances have allowed this country to maintain a certain leadership, despite the occasional emergence of Arab leaders, specifically gamal Abdel nasser of Egypt in the sixties. It is worth mentioning the unconditional support that Washington has given to the Saudi monarchy since the forties, when the historic agreement between Roosevelt and Abdel Aziz, the founder of this monarchy, took place. The White House wanted to secure oil supply for its economy and therefore protected and still does so even today, this regime from internal and external threats despite it still clinging to the Middle Ages. This protection given to the Saudi regime by the US is the great contradiction between American values and political policy making.
The Cold War has helped this country to maintain some leadership. If the Western world was to uphold the flag of freedom and liberalism against the Soviet Union, Riyadh represented the Islamic defence against Soviet atheism. The Russian invasion of a Muslim country such as Afghanistan in the late 70s was a golden opportunity for the Saudis to confirm this role. The war in Afghanistan allowed the Saudis to recruit the Mujahideen to fight against the Russians and to propagate the extremist movement that is known as Wahhabism in the Islamic world, a religious doctrine that over the decades has proven to be an obstacle to the (renaissance) of the Arab world, especially the Sunnis, and is also the intellectual foundation of Al Qaeda terrorism.
Throughout these decades, Saudi Arabia did not manage to attain a strong leadership, it failed to build a Sunni Arab political movement that is able to play a significant role on the international geopolitical map. And when the Arab Spring offered the Arabs a chance to take the leap toward a global renascence, Saudi Arabia did not hesitate to finance the counter-revolution.
Despite its wealth, Saudi Arabia never thought about putting a Marshall Plan in place for the other Arab countries, especially for the poorest, like Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan egypt and Sudan, all of which have a large human capital. For example, it did not want to finance the universities in these countries, nor to invest in any of their key sectors.
Unfortunately, the huge oil revenues were earmarked for investment in the West, funding the purchasing of arms and the playboy antics of its princes. And indeed when it does economically help the Sunni Arab countries, the objective is to counteract any democratic evolution.
Throughout the entire history of humanity, it is very difficult to find a country that has enjoyed all these material and spiritual means and has still failed to progress. Saudi Arabia embodies this rare scenario.
Saudi Arabia leads only a small number of, mostly monarchical, Sunni countries, but it does not lead the Arab people. The majority of Arab public opinion reflects a negative image of the Saudi monarchy. The independent press in the Arab world blames it for the historical failure of Arab Sunnis. They denounce the inhumane treatment exerted on Arab immigrants working in this country and call it the enemy of democracy in the Arab world.
The situation of Saudi Arabia is aggravated further when Sunni Arabs see how the leadership of the Muslim world is in the hands of non-Arab Sunni Muslims, of countries like Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia who have undergone a spectacular democratic and economic renascence in recent years. Progress that has been achieved thanks to an open interpretation of Islam, removed from the extremism that characterizes Saudi Arabia in its vision of this religion.
The Arab Sunnis enviously notice how Iran, the Shia country, reaffirms its presence on the international geopolitical map and achieving considerable scientific breakthroughs, especially with its peaceful nuclear program, and forces the international community to negotiate and accept it .
Meanwhile, the Sunni Arab world is living through a catastrophic situation, with many countries experiencing abysmal backwardness, while other countries are in possession of the financial means but do not have a roadmap towards progress. This situation is leading public opinion to reject any Saudi leadership of the Sunni world at a time when Riyadh wants to play a role in the Syrian crisis and lead a confrontation with Iran. Its involvement in the war against a poor country such as Yemen is already part of this issue .
Many of the Sunni Arabs blame Saudi Arabia for the historical defeat of the Arab Sunnis at the hands of the Shiites and non-Arab Sunnis.
Leading a group of countries requires a political, scientific and economic projection, and Saudi Arabia simply never had one.