Paper Title
The Persian Gulf Regional Security Sub-Complex: The Saudi-Iranian “Cold War”

Abstract
The Persian Gulf – or Arab Gulf in the terminology of the Arab Gulf states – due to the competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia has become one of the most conflict-prone regional security sub-complexes of the world. Its global relevance has been enhanced by the fact that it is one of the most penetrated regions of the world, and that some 20-21% of the global oil traffic goes through the Strait of Hormuz. In spite of being a region of such vital importance, no regional security architecture exists, most local actors entrust their security to external powers, while the last decades have seen several wars there. Keywords - Cold War, Iran, regional Security Complex, Saudi Arabia.