Iran and Saudi Arabia have been fighting to strengthen their power in the Middle East for almost the past ten years. This rivalry has become the cause of different complexities in various areas. It weakened ‌international allies and resulted in ongoing wars. There is also the fear of the involvement of the United States if these two countries directly fight each other. Recently, both nations have expressed their desire to ease tensions and agreed last year to restore diplomatic ties. However, the recent war between Israel and Hamas has made the situation more complicated and unclear. 

Under the leadership of Mohammad Bin Salman, the involvement of Saudi nations in military actions is increasing. It includes fighting in Syria’s civil war and leading a war in Yemen. This participation caused problems for Iran and its allies. In 2019, Saudi oil facilities were targeted with drone and missile attacks. Saudi officials have accused Iran of this incident. It highlights that both nations want to start the conflict. 

Additionally, the Trump administration’s tougher approach toward Iran brought the US and Iran closer to a war in early 2020, which also affected Saudi Arabia. The future of peace in the Middle East now depends on many changing factors.

In 2021, when President Joe Biden ruled a state, he made efforts to improve relations with Iran. For this purpose, he brings back the 2018 nuclear deal that the Trump administration had ended. 

Although talks have stopped, they happened during a time when countries in the Middle East were trying to fix broken relationships from past conflicts. Biden said his main focus is ‌ human rights in his foreign policy. He did not make big changes in how the US interacts with the region. In 2022, he planned a tour of Saudi Arabia and had a conversation with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. Even though he had called the country a pariah before. The objective of this visit is to strengthen its relationship with Gulf countries. At the same time, there was increasing tension between Russia and Ukraine. Recently, the Biden administration persuaded Saudi Arabia to make the part of Abraham Accords, which would involve recognizing Israel for ‌United States support. However, the ongoing conflict in Gaza makes this plan complicated. 

Before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, the war between Hamas and Palestine was tied to the bigger fight for power between Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, Saudi leaders decided not to pass comments about Palestine’s complexities to get assistance from Israel against Iran. 

This led to the Abraham Accords, where Israel made peace deals with the UAE and Bahrain at the time of Trump’s presidency. These deals showed a major shift in relationships that many people were already aware of. The recent fight between Israel and Palestine highlights that ignoring this war is not a good decision for different nations, including the United States. The conflict led to many complexities, such as fights with bigger groups like Hezbollah and Iran. This situation would make the region less stable. 

In other parts of the world, ‌past conflicts have calmed down, but still, the situation across the world is severe with no real peace. Yemen’s civil war is still not resolved, which has made the situation serious for the people living there. 

Syria’s civil war has been going on for 13 years and is still unstable, even if it is less violent now. Libya had a pause in fighting after a cease-fire in 2020, but its political situation is still tense.