Iran

Hostility between Iran’s Shia fundamentalist regime and the oppressive Sunni Muslim monarchy of Saudi Arabia is both sectarian and ideological, and goes back a long way.

It is not the first time that the Saudis have sought to dislodge the Iranian regime by proxy.

In 1980, Saudi Arabia encouraged Iraq to attack Iran, contributing vast sums to Saddam Hussein’s war effort.

The US special envoy, Donald Rumsfeld, assured Saddam of US support. The war lasted eight years and left a million dead or wounded.

An earlier intervention also had unforeseen consequences.

In 1953, Britain and America sponsored a military coup which reinstated the Shah of Iran and removed Prime Minister Mosaddeq, who represented Iran’s best hope for a secular democracy.

This caused immense resentment, and ultimately led to the 1979 Islamic revolution which brought in the present regime.

In considering King Abdullah’s advice to “cut off the head of the snake,” the US might have pause to wonder whether it is dealing with a snake or a Hydra – the multi-headed monster of Greek mythology which grew two new heads each time one was cut off.

Pete Winstanley, Durham.