Poll: There Is A Huge Middle Eastern Sectarian Divide On Views Of Saudi Arabia, Iran

PEW Research: The Middle East’s sectarian divide on views of Saudi Arabia, Iran

The recent execution of Shia leader Nimr al-Nimr, along with dozens of other prisoners, by the Saudi Arabian government has sparked a furor in the Middle East. The storming of the Saudi Embassy amid protests in Iran, a predominantly Shia Muslim nation with long-standing animosity toward predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia, has led to the cutting of diplomatic ties between the two powers. Saudi allies in the region, such as Bahrain, have followed suit.

The tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran are often characterized as sectarian – that is, Iran and its Shia allies versus Saudi Arabia and its Sunni brethren. And this characterization plays out to a large degree in public attitudes toward the two countries in five Middle Eastern nations Pew Research Center surveyed in spring 2015. In Jordan, a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, 78% of the public have a favorable view of Saudi Arabia, compared with only 8% who have a positive opinion of Iran.

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WNU Editor: There are many interpretations and opinions on why this divide exists, here is one of them .... The real roots of Sunni-Shia conflict: beyond the myth of "ancient religious hatreds" (Max Fisher, VOX). As to what's my take .... there are many reasons on why the Middle East is deeply divided .... tribalism, ethnicity, politics, economics, culture .... but religion is definitely on the top (or near it).