Iran-Saudi Arabia Relations: Iran announced on Friday that it has reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia to resume diplomatic relations and reopen their respective embassies in the two countries. After seven years of tension between the Middle East rivals, the two countries finally reached an agreement with the help of China.
The major diplomatic breakthrough made with China reduces the likelihood of armed conflict between the nations – both direct and in proxy conflicts around the region. The deal, struck amid a formal National People’s Congress in Beijing this week, represents a major diplomatic victory for the Chinese as the Gulf Arab states watch the United States gradually retreat from the wider Middle East.
Both the countries issued a joint communiqué on the agreement with China.
It comes even as diplomats are trying to end years of war in Yemen, a conflict in which both Iran and Saudi Arabia are deeply embroiled. The two countries issued a joint communique on the agreement with China, which brokered the deal.
Chinese state media did not immediately report the agreement. Iranian state media posted pictures and videos taken in China of the meeting.
It shows Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, along with Saudi national security adviser Mussad bin Mohammad al-Aiban and China’s most senior diplomat Wang Yi. “After the decision comes into force, the foreign ministers of the two countries will meet to prepare for the exchange of ambassadors,” Iranian state television said. It added that the talks were held for more than four days.
Joint statement calls for re-establishment of ties
The joint statement called for re-establishing ties and reopening of embassies “within a maximum period of two months”. In footage broadcast by Iranian media, Wang can be heard “wholeheartedly congratulating” on the “enlightenment” of the two countries. “Both sides have shown honesty,” he said. “China fully supports this agreement.” China, which hosted Iran’s hardline President Ibrahim Raisi last month, is also a top buyer of Saudi oil.
President Xi Jinping, just awarded a third five-year term as president on Friday, visited Riyadh in December to participate in meetings with oil-rich Gulf Arab nations vital to China’s energy supply. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Shamkhani as describing the talks as “frank, transparent, comprehensive and constructive”. “Removing misunderstandings and forward-looking views in relations between Tehran and Riyadh will certainly improve regional stability and security, as well as enhance cooperation between the Persian Gulf countries and the world of Islam to manage current challenges,” Shamkhani had said.
History behind the rivalry
Soon after the Iranian announcement, Saudi state media began publishing the same statement. Tension is at its peak between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic posts. Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shia cleric a few days ago, leading to protests. The execution came in the form of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, then a deputy, began to rise to power. King Salman’s son, Prince Mohammed, at one point compared Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler and threatened to attack Iran.
Tensions have risen dramatically in the Middle East
Tensions have risen dramatically across the Middle East since the US unilaterally pulled out of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Iran has been blamed for several attacks since that time, including one that targeted the heart of Saudi Arabia. oil industry in 2019, temporarily halving the state’s crude oil production.
Although Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels initially claimed the attack, Western countries and experts have blamed the attack on Tehran. Iran has long denied launching the attack. It has also denied carrying out other attacks that were later attributed to the Islamic Republic. Beyond regional politics, religion also plays an important role. Saudi Arabia, home to the cube-shaped Kaaba where Muslims pray five times a day, has long portrayed itself as the world’s leading Sunni nation.
Iran’s theocracy meanwhile sees itself as the protector of Islam’s Shiite minority. The two powers also have competing interests elsewhere, such as the turmoil in Lebanon now breaking out and in rebuilding Iraq after decades of war after the US-led 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Saudi Arabia-Iran deal after UAE-Tehran
Christian Ulrichsen, a research fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute who has long studied the region, said Saudi Arabia is reaching an agreement with Iran, with the United Arab Emirates reaching a similar understanding with Tehran. came after “This de-escalation and de-escalation has been going on for three years and it began with the Saudi recognition that without unconditional US support, they were unable to project power relative to Iran and the rest of the region. ,” They said.
Prince Mohammed, now focused on massive construction projects in his country, is likely also looking to get out of the Yemen war, Ulrichsen said. “The volatility could do a lot of damage to their plans,” he said. The Houthis captured Yemen’s capital Sanaa in September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government-in-exile into Saudi Arabia. In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition armed with US weapons and intelligence entered the war on the side of Yemen’s exiled government.
Inconclusive fighting has created a humanitarian disaster
Years of inconclusive fighting have created a humanitarian disaster and pushed the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of famine. A six-month ceasefire in Yemen’s war, the conflict’s longest, expired in October despite diplomatic efforts to renew it. This raised fears that the war might flare up again. More than 150,000 people have been killed in Yemen during the fighting, including more than 14,500 civilians.
In recent months, talks have been under way between Iran and the US, including Oman, a longtime interlocutor, with some hoping for an agreement before the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins later in March. Iran and Saudi Arabia have spoken intermittently in recent years, but it was not immediately clear whether Yemen was the impetus for this new tension. A previous round of talks between Saudi and Iranian officials was hosted by Baghdad and took place in Iraq, but stalled last year.
Iraq welcomes the deal
Iraq’s new government is considered closely aligned to Iran, although Iraq has attempted to maintain ties with both sides. In a statement following Friday’s announcement, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry welcomed the agreement and said that previous mediation by Iraq established a “solid foundation” for subsequent talks and agreements in China, which boosted cooperation for countries in the region. Gave “qualitative stimulus”. ,
The US Navy and its allies have recently seized several shipments of weapons headed for Yemen from Iran. Iran denied supplying arms to the Houthis, despite confiscating weapons showing others seen on the battlefield in the hands of the rebels. The UN arms embargo prevents nations from sending arms to the Houthis. A high-ranking Houthi official, Mohammad Abdulsalam, appeared in a statement welcoming Friday’s deal, which slammed the US and Israel.
He wrote online, “The region needs a return to normal relations between its countries, through which Islamic societies can recover their lost security as a result of foreign interventions led by Zionists and Americans. However, it is clear that Not what it is.” Means for America. Though long seen as a guarantor of Middle East energy security, regional leaders have become increasingly wary of Washington’s intentions following its chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the announced deal.
(With inputs from PTI)