Over a month after the Saudi execution of a prominent Shi’ite leader and the subsequent Iranian despoiling of the Saudi embassy, the rift between the two major Middle Eastern powers continues to roil regional diplomacy. On February 9, 2016, the Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative hosted a discussion about the impact of the rift between Iran and Saudi Arabia on the shifting economic and political trends in the region, including the prospects for peace in Syria.

The Future of Iran Initiative’s Acting Director Barbara Slavin moderated a panel including Frederic Hof, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, Amir Handjani, President of PG International Commodity Trading Services, Sara Vakhshouri, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, and David Ottaway, Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.