Good question for congress.

Woah, they are almost the same.

Oil, and it being a huge factor in the middle east keeping Iran from expanding its influence (hatred of America, etc). This nuclear deal (which Iran didn't even have to sign and they pretty much mocked the USA through the entire process) is a huge gamble. Also, some would argue that Iran supports the Islamic State, seeking to keep the region chaotic and unstable.


Good thing America is more energy independent now. Yet Saudi Arabia doesn't want us to produce our own energy. Global/Crude prices are so low now because they want to price American frackers out of the market. So far, it thankfully hasn't worked. If the USA is less dependent on their oil, east Asia may be the next big market. They already get oil, but now they might have to use some of their own military might rather than slyly relying on the US military to secure (literally) their trade.

This is a mess all around. There are so many twofaced 'allies' out there, like Turkey allowing the Islamic State to transport oil at their southern border. Assad is supposed to be against ISIS, yet he might be buying oil from them as well.

Not enough to export to other countries and make coins out of it.

I hate Saudi Arabia too

See, this is why any country under sharia law will NEVER be as advanced or civil as the western world they envy and hate so much. Totalitarian and fundamentalist as hell. But ironically though, even though most are forced to abide sharia law so strictly, some of them low key like the decadence of the western world, drinking, partying and all that in privacy. Christianity used to be strict as hell with the Spanish inquisition brutally torturing anyone who wasn't catholic (one thing that led immigrant to flee religious persecution in the Americas). Protestants broke free. I wonder if Islam will have a similar divide sometime in the future. I hear there are some muslims who do wish to practice the religion without sharia law stippling their freedoms.