Alwaght- The nature of Saudi Arabia�s aggressive policy in a year could be decoded through Riyadh�s new foreign policy approach which is spurred by changes in internal, regional and international conditions that have paved the way for transformation of the older approaches into new ones.

The new Saudi behavior carries messages and also consequences for the region's critical circumstances and also for the Islamic Republic of Iran which is considered as the major rival for Saudi Arabia in West Asia region.

To enlighten on the new attitude of Riyadh there must be a pointing to four factors in domestic, regional and international terms:

New political and security decision makers

King Salman�s ascending to the throne with his new political and security team including the crown prince, the deputy crown prince, the defense minister and the foreign minister have played major role within a year in making Saudi Arabia's foreign policy active and aggressive. In fact, such a team has sped up the process of hurried decision making in the kingdom.

The intention of new political elites was to get the kingdom out of its traditional stasis, unlock the Saudi potentials and take the initiative in terms of management of the regional cases in rivalry with Iran.

Actually, such a notion of the Saudis has roots in the changing regional conditions which have pushed Riyadh into the process of new behavior.

Power vacuum in the Arab world

Regionally, perhaps the most significant factor pushing the kingdom towards bolstering its political, economic and military power is the rise opportunity given to the Saudis thanks to a weakened, bankrupt and torn-apart Arab world. An Arab world that its streets are no longer seized by Iraq�s Saddam Hussein or Libya�s Muammar Gaddafi. An Arab world in which Egypt�s Hosni Mubarak is removed from power and Syria�s Bashar al-Assad is impaired as he is grappling with terrorism at home. All these developments have made up a situation in which Saudi Arabia makes allies from the obedient players and forms the so-called anti-terror military alliances.

Iran's growing influence

Still another important regional factor that energizes the new Saudi activism and aggression is Tehran�s increased sway in the Arab world on the one hand and a change of the international atmosphere in favor of Iran thanks to the nuclear deal with the world powers and lifting the Western economic sanctions on the other hand.

Since the day of announcement of the deal, the Saudis have made efforts to raise the costs of the agreement for the Islamic Republic or even foil it. Even now they seek blocking Tehran�s way of taking advantage of the nuclear accord.

Broken bonds with the US

The fourth factor that makes sense in the International level is a break in the US-Saudi Arabia cooperation chain. A break the initial signs of which appeared after the 9/11 terror attacks, and later after toppling of Iraq�s Saddam Hussein in 2003 US invasion and the 2011 Arab uprisings developments, it came to full existence.

In fact, multiple factors are influential in the impairment of the Washington-Riyadh ties including the transformed regional conditions and the cooperation pushes. The Saudis are concerned that the US new policy of redirection of focus to the East, where China and Russia are rising, could be serious. If true, this would reduce Washington's need to Middle East's oil and so the Americans would move towards diversification of their partners.

A mix of these four factors in domestic, regional and international levels pushed the kingdom to decide on changes from its slow and tolerant to active and aggressive foreign policy.

The new approach, in addition to bringing about new opportunities of influence in the region for Riyadh, could be carrying the strongest message to Tehran.

By Alwaght