Saudi Arabia's dilemma as it tries to stay out of US-Iran war

ReutersThe US and Saudi Arabia carried out strikes at a site belonging to Iraq's paramilitary Popular Mobilisation ForcesOn the opposite side of this conflict is the US with its immensely powerful Central Command (Centcom) forces plus - to varying degrees - the Gulf Arab states and Jordan. Israel remains a close US ally but is currently not an active participant in this war.Iran has most recently been concentrating its drone and missile attacks on Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, as well as targeting any commercial shipping that tries to slip through the Strait of Hormuz while avoiding Iran's new rules and routing. The addition of Iraqi militias and the Houthis in Yemen is a relatively new phenomenon and it shows how - without a lasting peace deal between the US and Iran - the region risks becoming ever more embroiled in a widening conflict.There are a number of reasons why Saudi Arabia is trying not to get sucked into a full-scale conflict. Its de facto ruler, the relatively young Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, has embarked the country on a course known as "Vision 2030". His aim is to diversify the Kingdom away from its dependence on oil revenues and create vibrant, modern, domestic industries that will provide meaningful jobs for the hundreds of thousands of graduates and school leavers pouring onto the job market each year. Part of Vision 2030 involves attracting foreign investment. Part of it also involves building things like data centres that are vulnerable to attack.