Vestnik Kavkaza quotes Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Matthew Bryza on the growing tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia:
The execution of a Shiite preacher in Saudi Arabia, the attack on the Saudi Embassy in Iran and the severance of diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran became the logical consequences of the covert war being waged by these two states in Syria and Yemen, a well-known American diplomat, the former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Matthew Bryza, said in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza.
“This conflict is both geopolitical and historical (Persia against Arabia), and religious (Shia against Sunni). The assassination of the Shiite religious activist (although a citizen of Saudi Arabia) by the Saudis and the failure of the Iranian government to protect the Saudi embassy in Tehran have led to ab unnecessary escalation of this geopolitical and religious strife,’’ the US diplomat said.