My understanding is that while the house of Saud is America friendly the general Saudi population is not. While with Iran the government is anti-American but the population is not necessarily. Sunni or Shia choose your poison I guess.The Saudi's aside from lopping your head off, will send people to another country to kill you, cut you up, and sneak you out in several bags. I imagine that not much happens that they don't sanction or care about. It is in the Saudi's best interest to keep the Middle East opposed to us, as they can always play the "good Arab" role.