To give people some context, the difference between the two (Shia vs Sunni Muslims) is that the Shia believe Mohammed's son-in-law should have been his rightful successor (and he eventually did become the leader) while Sunni's believe that Mohammed Father-In-Law was his rightful successor (too bad God couldn't have made that more clear).

Also Saudi doesn't just follow plain old Sunni Islam. They practice Wahhabism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabism) which has a more literal reading of the Quran (which explains the higher percentage of extremism). The royal family leveraged Wahhabism to gain and keep power of the region.

As long as the countries remain governed by religious politics and inflict God's so called will on others, there cannot be an end to the conflict.

Iran and the Persian people have a long and illustrious history, with deep culture going back as far as human history and a (relatively) vibrant scientific community. They have a lot of natural resources and the firmament for a real long sustaining culture.

Saudi on the other hand is very "new" to the world in terms of culture and influence, only coming into prominence since the 1940s oil boom. The harsh environment isn't hospitable to living there without extreme energy use.

Both obviously have major regional economic power, but the Saudi society is built on sand (literally and metaphorically). In the very long term Iran's importance will come back so if anything the US and the broader world should be seeking to engage more with Iran and less with Saudi IMO.

That's not getting into a lot of the political stuff obviously, more just an analysis of the "fundamentals."

Not so cold in Yemen...

I disagree. This is not a war related to a faith but past history. Arabs and Faras(Iranians) have grudges since ages.

What about the Turkey in the room?

> The Islamic Republic of Iran, a Shiite theocracy, claims leadership of the Shiites, which make up roughly 13 percent of Muslims worldwide. For both regimes, religion is an important tool of power.

That is mightily misleading. It is more important what part of the shiites make out of Middle East muslims. Because large parts of the muslim populations live in places like Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh - and from bird's eye - they don't seem to care much about sectarian struggles.