King Salman ascends the throne of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at a time of great regional and domestic challenge. With the respect to the latter, the Islamic State has already carried out several attacks and threatens more. More importantly, regionally the kingdom is surrounded by instability, with Iranian hands everywhere. To the south, in Yemen, the Iranian-backed Houthis have overthrown the pro-Saudi president. To the east, Iran's hands can be seen both in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province and in Bahrain. To the north, a pro-Iranian government in Iraq completes the circle. And there is Iran itself, which continues to move towards an atomic bomb. Not to mention Egypt, with Riyadh throwing its full weight behind the anti-Muslim Brotherhood president, And al-Fattah al-Sisi. Israel sees eye-to-eye with Saudi Arabia on all these issues, and further cooperation can be expected.