The 1971 Persepolis celebrations of the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire, attended by global royalty and featuring extravagant banquets, were seen in Saudi Arabia as un-Islamic and ostentatious. The Shah’s public distancing from Islamic traditions contrasted with Saudi Arabia’s emphasis on Islamic leadership, creating an unbridgeable ideological divide. Saudi leaders, while respectful in person, privately criticized the Shah’s excesses and were wary of increasing secularism and nationalism.
