Taking sides in the contest between Iran and Saudi Arabia for dominance among the world’s Muslims has cost Malaysia dearly.
Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, and last year the ruling United Malays National Organization sided with Saudi Arabia’s Sunni branch of Islam and labelled the Shia faction championed by Iran as “deviant and outside the Islamic fold.”
As a result, Iran is cutting back on imports of palm oil from Malaysia. Iran imported nearly 700,000 tonnes of Malaysian palm oil last year.
And Malaysian state oil company Petronas is being blocked from oil exploration in Iran.
