
Iran Focus
London, 22 Aug – The meetings between Saudi Arabian and Iraqi officials late last month indicate that the Saudis are attempting to put distance between the Iranian Regime and the government in Iraq, according to a Middle East Expert.
Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and then two weeks later, he met with the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
Fanar Haddad, a research fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said: “Hosting Sadr in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi shows regional rivals and particularly Iran that KSA/UAE are capable of tapping into and influencing intra-Shia politics in Iraq.”
Haddad noted that Sadr is very tempting for the Gulf monarchies.



