Riyadh likely to go its own way on Iran

Washington: US policymakers should not assume Saudi Arabia will "act in lockstep" with the United States in countering Iran's influence in the Arab world, a Rand Corp report said on Tuesday.

While the Saudis are often viewed as a "confrontational proxy" against Iran, Riyadh has a demonstrated tendency to hedge its bets, the research organisation said.

Instead of lining up against Iran, the Saudi kingdom is pursuing a nuanced approach that incorporates elements of accommodation and engagement, the report said.

There is a rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran but they also work together on various issues, including economic issues and regional security, said Alireza Nader, one of the authors, in an interview.

"It is not a black and white relationship," Nader said.

While Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed to erase Israel from the map, the Saudis have won widespread Arab support for a peace plan offering Israel recognition in exchange for all Arab land lost in the 1967 Middle East war.

Iran is challenging the Saudis' claim to leadership on Arab issues, particularly Palestine, the report said, while Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz is trying to isolate Iranian rejection of Israel.

Overall, the report said, the United States should encourage Saudi outreach to Iran while working to resolve the two countries' differences, particularly on the Arab-Israeli front.

Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia are long-standing. Iran continues to regard Riyadh as America's principal local ally while Saudi Arabia harbours a deep distrust of Iran, the report said.

But when necessary, the two countries have cooperated when their interests intersect.

"Both sides are careful not to create too much instability in the Gulf," Nader said.

And, he said, as Iran's nuclear programme continues to generate US opposition, while they are opposed to the programme "the Saudis are concerned about a military conflict that could further destabilise the region".

Research for the study was conducted between 2006 and 2009 by the nonprofit Rand Corp, an independent institute that does much of its work for the Defence Department.

United Nations (Reuters) The UN General Assembly president accused the United States on Tuesday of "demonising" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the latest blast against Washington by the former Nicaraguan official.

"I don't think anyone can doubt that in our part of the world, concretely here... Ahmadinejad has been demonised," Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann told a news conference.

Ahmadinejad caused outrage in the West by saying in 2005 that the state of Israel should be wiped off the map. He has also questioned the Holocaust and promoted a nuclear programme the West suspects aims to produce atomic weapons. Tehran says the programme is for peaceful purposes.

D'Escoto said that "the United States has been in the business of the demonisation of people from [for]ever", but had "canonised" former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza and former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

"And then we hear terrible things about Ahmadinejad," D'Escoto said at the news conference on a recent trip to Syria, Finland, China, Bahrain, Switzerland and Iran to promote a UN conference in June on the world financial crisis.

D'Escoto said there had been "a big ado", including protest letters written to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, when he went to a New York meeting attended by Ahmadinejad during the annual General Assembly summit last September. He did not say who had written the letters.