In Saudi Arabia, Trump reaches out to Sunni nations, at Iran's expense

Trump has presented the shift as a reinvestment in alliances with nations to fight and terrorism

As voters in Iran danced in the streets, celebrating the landslide re-election of a moderate as president, President Trump stood in front of a gathering of leaders from across the Muslim world and called on them to isolate a nation he said had “fuelled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.”

That nation was Iran.

In using the headline address of his first foreign trip as president to declare his commitment to Sunni Arab nations, Trump signalled a return to an American policy built on alliances with Arab autocrats, regardless of their human rights records or policies that sometimes undermine American interests.

At the same time, he rejected the path taken by his predecessor, Barack Obama. Obama engaged with Iran to reach a breakthrough nuclear accord, which Trump’s administration has acknowledged Iran is following.

Trump has presented the shift as a reinvestment in historical alliances with friendly nations in order to fight extremism and terrorism. But the juxtaposition of the election in Iran and the gathering in Saudi Arabia seemed to highlight a reality of the West Asia that presidents have long wrestled with: How to choose partners and seek American interests in a region torn by sectarian splits and competing agendas.

Iran and its proxies have effectively found themselves on the side of the United States in fighting the Islamic State in Iraq, while in Syria, they have been adversaries in their support for the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. Saudi Arabia has at times undermined the United States’ efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.

“We are picking one side in this geopolitical struggle, and there is very little room for gray,” said Frederic Wehrey, a senior fellow in the Middle East Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Sectarianism is a by-product of this geopolitical rivalry, and we are inadvertently picking one side in this sectarian struggle.”

The two scenes — dancing in the streets in Tehran and Sunni leaders gathered in an opulent hall in Riyadh — also pointed to a complicating reality in West Asia: There is often a disconnect between the leaders and their people.

In his remarks, Trump signalled his intention to end engagement with Iran, suggesting that it does not encourage change from inside the country.

But in Iran, many were pushing for change. Emboldened by the election results, crowds of Iranians in the capital, Tehran, demanded what they hope President Hassan Rouhani’s second term will bring: The release of opposition figures, more freedom of thought and fewer restrictions on daily life.

Rouhani’s supporters also expect his victory, with 57 per cent of the vote, to bolster his outreach efforts to the West and the pursuit of more foreign investment to lift Iran’s ailing economy. For those who voted for Rouhani, there was a feeling of tremendous relief that his challenger, the hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi, who criticised the nuclear deal with the United States and other Western powers, had lost.

“Bye-bye, Raisi,” the crowds chanted during the street gatherings.

“He faces a difficult task,” Fazel Meybodi, a Shiite Muslim cleric from the city of Qum, said of Rouhani. “Now he must provide more freedoms, break the hard-line monopoly on the state-run radio and television, and increase freedom of press.”

To achieve all that, Rouhani must persuade the hard-line-dominated judiciary and security forces to change their outlook, Meybodi said. “If he fails to deliver on at least 70 per cent of those promises, his future is dark,” he added.