Saudi Arabia Keeps Talking to Iran Even Though It Does Not Trust It
A Saudi analyst says Riyadh is adding weapons and allies while keeping Tehran on the phone.
Up First from NPR · Trump's Midterm Travel, Ukraine Starshield Restrictions, Houthis Attack AramcoLast week, after drones and missiles struck the administrative offices of Aramco, the Saudi state oil giant, in Dhahran, the question for Riyadh was how to weather a widening war. Saudi analyst Hesham Alghannam, who studies security in the kingdom, said the answer had to run on two tracks at once. Saudi Arabia, he argued, is expanding defense ties with Turkey and Pakistan, which are providing military support, while also using diplomacy with Iran, which backs the Houthis, the armed group holding Yemen's capital, Sanaa.
“Talking to Iran does not mean trusting Iran,” Alghannam said. “When trust is low, having this active channel can actually become more important.”
By that, Alghannam meant “keeping a channel open in case there is a wider crisis.” The military track is already visible, with Turkish and Pakistani support flowing to Riyadh, and Alghannam argued that diplomacy has to continue alongside it. The pressure for both is plain: the Houthis keep hitting energy sites, airbases and airports, so Riyadh needs a diplomatic channel too.
That exposure was clear in the days before he spoke. The Houthis had hit the airport in Riyadh, the capital, killing more than a dozen people and wounding hundreds in what correspondent Aya Batrawy, reporting from Dubai, called “the deadliest attack on the kingdom in more than a decade.” The group then claimed near daily strikes on Saudi energy sites. The Saudis, in turn, joined Yemeni government forces in a major offensive, and the Houthis say Riyadh had carried out over 2,000 air raids in recent weeks. United Nations agencies say 200,000 people had been forced from their homes.
The channel Alghannam described was used on Sunday, when the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers spoke by phone about the escalation. As Batrawy reported, “there is still no sign of a truce on the horizon.”
Questions people ask
Who are the Houthis and why would Iran matter to what they do?
The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, are an armed group from northern Yemen that seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and now control much of the north and a long stretch of Red Sea coast. Iran provides political backing, weapons technology, and training, though the extent of day to day command is debated. Saudi Arabia has treated them as an Iranian proxy since it intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015.
What is Aramco and why is hitting its offices a big deal?
Aramco is Saudi Arabia's national oil company and the world's largest oil producer by volume. Oil and gas revenue funds most of the Saudi state budget, so its headquarters, refineries, export terminals, and fields are both economic and symbolic targets. A fire at an administrative building does not stop production by itself, but it signals that the core of the economy can be reached.
Do Saudi Arabia and Iran have normal diplomatic relations?
Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic relations in a Chinese brokered deal in 2023 after seven years without ties. Since then they have held ministerial meetings and phone calls, even as they back opposite sides in Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria. The relationship is best described as managed rivalry, with communication intended to prevent miscalculation rather than build alliance.