Saudi Arabia vs Iran. They never fired at each other. But... #911 #historyfacts #theburiedrecord

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]Saudi Arabia and Iran have never officially declared war on each other.

[00:00:05]They've never sent armies to face each other on a battlefield, but across the Middle East, hundreds of thousands of people are dead because of their rivalry.

[00:00:14]Saudi Arabia, the heart of Sunni Islam, the world's largest oil exporter, and America's closest Arab ally. Iran, the world's leading Shia Muslim state, revolutionary, defiant, and determined to dominate the region. Two powers, one Middle East, no room for both.

[00:00:33]In 1979, Iran's Islamic Revolution changed the entire region overnight. Ayatollah Khomeini declared Saudi Arabia corrupt, un-Islamic, and an American puppet.

[00:00:46]Saudi Arabia saw a Shia revolutionary state on the rise as an existential threat. The rivalry was ignited, and it has never gone out.

[00:00:54]Direct war was too costly, too visible.

[00:00:58]So, both countries found a smarter method, proxy warfare. Fund rebel groups, back opposing sides in other countries' civil wars, let other people fight and die while you move the pieces from a safe distance. It was cheaper than war, and far more destructive.

[00:01:14]When America removed Saddam Hussein in 2003, it created a vacuum.

[00:01:20]Iran stepped in immediately, funding and arming Shia militias across Iraq, turning the country into its first major proxy battlefield. Saudi Arabia watched Iran's influence creeping toward its borders, and began pouring money into Sunni groups to push back.

[00:01:37]Then came 2011 and the Arab Spring.

[00:01:41]Governments across the Middle East began to collapse. Syria, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, every unstable country became a new chessboard.

[00:01:50]Saudi Arabia and Iran rushed into each one, backing opposite sides, flooding conflict zones with weapons, money, and fighters. But what happened next changed everything.

[00:02:03]Part two drops soon. Subscribe so you don't miss it.