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Throughout his reign (1941–1979), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah, maintained a complex and evolving relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While ideological differences—particularly over secularism versus Saudi Arabia’s religious governance—often created tensions, geopolitical and economic concerns necessitated diplomatic engagement between the two Persian Gulf powers. Saudi Arabia, ruled by the House of Saud and grounded in conservative Wahhabi Islam, viewed the Shah’s reforms with suspicion.
