Mohammed bin Salman
After the Iranian revolution in 1979, a rivalry between Saudi-Arabia and Iran over the leadership over the Islamic world emerged, and after Iran tried to export revolution over the region Saudi-Arabia feared a revolution. It led to a rivalry but in 2011 this rivalry became much harder as uprising in the region led to the two supporting opposite sides in conflicts. In 2016 after a Shi’ite cleric Sheik Nimr al-Nimr was executed by Saudi-Arabia after demonstrations and the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by protesters, this led to the cut of diplomatic ties between the two. In 2023 an unexpected deal between the two was signed after diplomatic talks hosted by China, in which they would again open their embassies, bin Salman likely made this deal to support his Vision 2030 and the relation with Iran was an obstacle for foreign investment.