Saudi Arabia Puts a Diplomatic Initiative With Iran on Hold

After about six months of trying to negotiate with Iran, Saudi Arabia has backed out of the process. Riyadh aborted the process after determining that diplomatic engagement was not helping it contain Iran as a threat — and in fact was giving the Iranians space to expand their influence in the region. The Saudis have now made a 180-degree turn and returned to confronting Iran by proxy in places such as Syria and Yemen. From Riyadh's point of view, a grand bargain between the countries is highly unlikely, but even a tactical understanding will not happen until Saudi Arabia achieves a position of relative strength.