Saudi Arabia and Iran’s Forty Year Rivalry

In her new book, Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East, Emmy-winning journalist Kim Ghattas describes the roots and consequences of the destructive rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Ghattas offers stories from intellectuals, lawyers, women’s rights activists, clerics, and novelists from across the region to explain how the Middle East got to be the way it is, and what can be done about it.

Join Carnegie for a conversation with Ghattas, moderated by the Washington Post’s David Ignatius. Carnegie President William J. Burns will introduce the conversation. Copies of the book will be available for purchase, and the author will sign copies immediately following the event.

Kim Ghattas

Kim Ghattas a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Ghattas writes a regular column for Foreign Policy magazine and covered the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign for the BBC

David Ignatius

David Ignatius is a foreign affairs columnist for the Washington Post, and the author of eight spy novels.

William J. Burns

Bill Burns is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He previously served as U.S. deputy secretary of state.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.