Saudis’ bolder moves to check Iran reverberate across region

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia is more aggressively confronting its rival Iran on multiple fronts. It’s a policy that risks sharpening several conflicts in the Middle East, even though so far it has failed to score any successes in stemming Tehran’s influence.

The bolder steps are largely seen as the work of the son of King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has consolidated his power. Under his leadership, the kingdom has shown a readiness to shake up the region, launching a military campaign in Yemen against rebels its sees as Iranian proxies and sparking a confrontation with Qatar in part over ties with Tehran.

Still, Iran has been able to use wars in Iraq and Syria to build a bridge of alliances stretching from its border to the Mediterranean.

The question is whether the Saudis will push even harder against Iran — and what will happen if they do. So far, the kingdom’s policies appear to have the full support of President Donald Trump.

The past weekend saw dramatic developments connected to the kingdom that intensified regional tensions:

• Yemeni rebels fired a missile targeting the international airport in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, and Saudi Arabia accused Iran of supplying the missile, saying that could be “considered an act of war.” The missile was intercepted by air defenses, but it was the deepest rebel strike in Saudi territory since the Yemen war began in 2015.

• Saudi Arabia seems to have acted to wreck Lebanon’s government that includes Iran’s powerful ally, Hezbollah. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a Saudi ally, announced his surprise resignation in Riyadh.

• Crown Prince Mohammed appeared to strengthen his power at home. There were a series of arrests of princes and senior figures in what was billed as a crackdown on corruption but was widely seen as a purge of potential rivals and critics.

How Saudi policies are affecting different countries of the Middle East:

• Though Saudi Arabia said it reserved the right to respond over the Yemeni missile, it is unlikely to take direct military action against Iran.

• The kingdom’s military is already tied down in the Yemen war, with its warplanes leading the air campaign there and troops on the border. Iran’s military is larger and more battlehardened than Saudi Arabia’s, but the kingdom has far more advanced weaponry bought from the U.S. and Europe in the past decade. It has a strong ally in the United Arab Emirates

Direct military action would risk huge destabilization in the Gulf and beyond, disrupting oil shipments vital to Saudi Arabia and its allies.

The kingdom is unlikely to act without a green light from Washington, where the policy has been to avoid direct confrontation with Iran.

That leaves them squaring off in proxy battles. for power in the region.