Since the early 1790s, the
Sharif of Mecca had sought to contain
Saudi expansion; he corresponded with the
Mamluks of Iraq and turned them hostile against the Saudis by portraying them as
disbelievers. In 1797, Sulayman Pasha, the Mamluk governor of Iraq, promptly invaded
Diriyah with around 15,000 troops in co-ordination with the
Sharif of Mecca and laid a one-month siege to
Al-Ahsa. However, re-inforcements led by
Saud ibn 'Abd al-Azeez would force the coalition to retreat. After three days of skirmish, Sulayman Pasha and the Saudis came to a peace settlement which was to last for years. The peace would be broken in 1801, when a caravan of pilgrims protected by a Saudi convoy was plundered near
Hail; upon orders from the government in
Baghdad. This attack would completely break down the already deteriorating Saudi-Iraqi diplomatic relations, and the Emirate of Diriyah sent a large-scale expedition towards
Iraq. In 1801-1802, the Saudis
sacked Karbala, killing thousands of inhabitants. The assassination in November 1803 of Saudi
Emir ‘Abd al-‘Aziz during prayers in Diriyah by an Iraqi was suspected of being orchestrated by the Mamluk governor of Baghdad, further contributing to the negative Saudi perception of Iraq. Iraq was able to repel additional Saudi attacks on
Najaf and
Hillah in 1803 and 1806, but there remained no challenge to their domination of the
desert. At the creation of the
Sykes–Picot Agreement, the
Hashemites ruled the kingdoms of
Hijaz,
Transjordan and Iraq. Once
Ibn Saud established dominance in central Arabian
Najd, he then proceeded to dominate much of the
Arabian Peninsula and, with the help of the highly conservative
Ikhwan, even conquered the Hashemite Kingdom of Hijaz in 1925. This was the beginning of a struggle between the ruling Hashemite family in Iraq and Jordan and the Saudis. In 1958, no longer would the Hashemites rule Iraq. Instead, Iraq fell under
anti-Imperial Arab nationalism, led by Brigadier General
Abd al-Karim Qasim. With strong
socialist elements, Iraq was seen to move towards the
Soviet Union as Saudi Arabia was quietly moving towards the
United States. In 1979 Saddam Hussein took control of Iraq and, due to the
Iranian revolution in the same year, relations improved between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s,
Riyadh suspected
Baghdad of supporting political movements hostile to Saudi interests, not only in the
Arabian Peninsula but also in other
Middle Eastern countries. Saudi–Iraqi ties consequently were strained; the kingdom tried to contain the spread of Arab Nationalism from Iraq by strengthening its relations with states such as
Iran,
Kuwait,
Syria and the
United States, all of which shared its distrust of
Baghdad. Beginning in late 1974, however, Iraq began to moderate its foreign policies, a change that significantly lessened tensions between
Riyadh and Baghdad. It began at the
Rabat Arab summit in October 1974, where
Jordan invited Iraq to listen to proposals for how it could resolve differences with Iran,
Egypt, and the Saudis. Iraq agreed. Iraq responded with a "charm offensive" that resulted in better relations: "High-level Iraqi officials, including Vice President
Saddam Hussein and President
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, visited the Kingdom, and ranking Saudis, like Crown Prince
Fahd, paid return visits to Baghdad. Iraq ended propaganda efforts critical of the Saudi rulers and suspended covert activities in the Kingdom. In June 1975, the two states settled lingering border issues, agreeing to divide equally the diamond shaped '
neutral zone' carved out by the British in the 1920s." Consequently, postwar Saudi policy focused on ways to contain potential Iraqi threats to the kingdom and the region. One elements of Riyadh's containment policy included support for Iraqi opposition forces that advocated the overthrow of
Saddam Hussein's government. In the past, backing for such groups had been discreet, but in early 1992 the Saudi's invited several Iraqi opposition leaders to Riyadh to attend a well-publicized conference. To further demonstrate Saudi dissatisfaction with the regime in Baghdad, Crown
Prince Abdallah permitted the media to videotape his meeting with some of the opponents of Saddam Hussein. In spite of this, the Saudi leadership opposed the U.S. plan to invade Iraq in 2003 and did not join the Coalition. Their fears and warnings that Iraq would fracture along sectarian and political lines proved accurate. What was worse for Saudi Arabia was the strengthening of the
Shi'ites in Iraq, seen as Iran's proxy. This drew the Iranian threat much larger for the Kingdom. Iraq, as a result of being now ruled by Shi'ites, have chosen Iran over Saudi Arabia as their closer ally. In 2009, Iraq named
Ghanim Al-Jumaily its first post-
Gulf War ambassador to Saudi Arabia. In January 2012, Iraqi foreign minister
Hoshyar Zebari stated that Saudi Arabia had named its first ambassador to Iraq since 1990.
Fahd Abdul Mohsen Al-Zaid, the Kingdom's ambassador to
Jordan, would serve as non-resident ambassador flying regularly from
Amman to Baghdad. In 2014, former
Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki stated that Saudi Arabia and Qatar started the civil wars
in Iraq and
Syria, and
incited and encouraged terrorist movements, like
ISIS and
al-Qaeda, supporting them politically and in the media, with money and by buying weapons for them. Saudi Arabia denied the accusations which were criticised by the country, the
Carnegie Middle East Center and the
Royal United Services Institute. On February 25, 2017, Saudi foreign minister
Adel al-Jubeir visited Iraq – the first such visit by a Saudi foreign minister since 1990. In August 2017, it was reported that the border crossing between Iraq and Saudi Arabia would be reopened. This would be the first time the border was open after approximately 27 years. On March 25, 2021, Saudi Arabia and Iraq held talks through a video call discussing the relations between the two countries and stressing on the importance of boosting the cooperation on regional and international issues. In 2024, Iraqi prime minister
Mohammed Shia Al Sudani met with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and together they addressed bilateral relations. Since then, relations have come closer as the two countries cooperate together in many fields. ==Resident diplomatic missions==