An unexpected war of words erupted between two sworn Middle-Eastern rivals over the weekend, when Saudi Arabia and Iran threatened each other with military action, if not outright destruction.
It started on Tuesday, when in “unusually blunt comments” delivered during a nationally-televised interview Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the man who is now effectively in charge of Saudi oil policy – ruled out any dialogue with Iran and pledged to protect his conservative kingdom from what he called “Tehran’s efforts to dominate the Muslim world.”