International Business Times quotes Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center and Global Energy Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Ariel Cohen on falling defense budgets for Middle Eastern countries as a result of low oil prices:
The main reason for the decreased price of oil is because producers in the Middle East are pumping too much into the market. On the surface, that may seem like a major mistake that directly hurts Riyadh, but the concerted strategy led by Saudi Arabia is aimed at preventing Iran from reemerging as a major political and military player in the region after years of being under heavy U.S. economic sanctions, explained Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow with expertise in global energy at the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C. think tank.
“The Saudi policy of keeping the spigots open and keeping production up is really just for geopolitical reasons, despite the damage to its economy,” said Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow with expertise in global energy at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. “The center of their thinking is about efforts to constrain Iran, and the dynamic that is driving that Saudi oil policy is the sectarian rivalry between the Sunni Saudis and the largely Shia Iranians.”