Whatever the truth of the amazing US allegations against Iranian agents accused of plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States on American soil, they have served to highlight the proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East.

One of last month's most interesting developments in Persian Gulf power politics played out not in the Middle East, but in Vienna, Paris, and Washington. For these Western cities were the venues for an important series of exchanges that revealed much about the changing balance of power among the Middle East s major oil producers, including the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In particular, these exchanges underscored how Saudi Arabia's current regional strategy - which we have previously described as counter -revolutionary", see here - is weakening the Kingdom's position.