The Guardian quotes Nonresident Senior Fellow Richard LeBaron on why Saudi and Israeli fears of Iran are complicating nuclear negotiations:
Richard LeBaron, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and former US Ambassador to Kuwait as well as Deputy Chief of Mission in Israel, told me that fears among the Sunni-led Arab states and Israel over Iran are for different reasons, but real enough.
“The Arabs fear Iranian revolutionary zeal, their dedication to spreading their influence in the Arab region, and they believe that the US intends to use Iran to create some sort of balance against their interests,” he said. “Nuclear proliferation has never been high on their list of concerns. But any step out of isolation by Iran is considered a step backward for the Saudis. Israel fears a somewhat unpredictable nuclear power in the Middle East, which ideologically opposes it: they don’t much care about Iran’s regional meddling other than its support for Hezbollah and its minor support for Hamas.”