Saudi Crown Prince MBS Moves to Exploit Vacuum Left By Iran
The kingdom is wasting no time filling the void in the Middle East left by a crippled Iran, which has seen its proxies destroyed, its enemies emboldened and its regional influence decimated.
Protestor’s display images of the killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, and of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a rally in Tehran, in October 2024.
Source: AFP/Getty Images
Shortly after Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun was chosen this month as its next president, giant banners of him and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman were unfurled on a building’s façade in the northern province of Akkar, hailing Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler as the “leader of the Arabs.”
The oil-rich kingdom and its 39-year-old leader — who backed Aoun to get the presidency — are emerging as one of the biggest winners in the fallout of the 15-month conflict in Gaza, which has tilted the balance of power in the Middle East against its longtime rival Iran. As a fragile ceasefire deal came into effect on Sunday, Tehran’s influence has been crippled, for now: its proxies in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories decimated, its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad deposed and its enemy Israel emboldened. Saudi Arabia is wasting no time filling the void.