Relations between the Arab world and Iran have rarely left the headlines in the last few years, and remain a vital component of international relations in the Middle East. From early disputes over border issues to the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, and from later antagonisms between Iran and Saudi Arabia to the current negotiations concerning nuclear weaponry, Syria and other factors, Arab-Iranian relations often hold the key to understanding the conflicts that occur throughout the region. But far from concluding that Arabs and Iranians are inevitably trapped in an antagonistic, and often violent,...