Saudi Arabia and Iran resume diplomatic relations after feud
2023.03.10 12:26
Saudi Arabia and Iran resume diplomatic relations after feud
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – After seven years of hostility that threatened Gulf stability and security and contributed to the fueling of conflicts in the Middle East, from Yemen to Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to resume relations.
After four days of secret talks between top security officials from the two rival Middle Eastern powers in Beijing, the agreement was made public.
In a statement, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China said, “Tehran and Riyadh agreed to resume diplomatic relations and re-open embassies within two months.” It stated that their affirmation of non-interference in internal affairs and respect for states’ sovereignty are included in the agreement.
In recent times, Saudi Arabia has placed the blame for 2019’s missile and drone attacks on the kingdom’s oil facilities and tanker attacks in Gulf waters on Iran. Iran refuted the allegations.
Yemen’s Iran-adjusted Houthi development has likewise done cross-line rocket and robot assaults into Saudi Arabia, which drives an alliance battling the Houthis, and in 2022 stretched out the strikes to the UAE.
Ali Shamkhani, Iran’s top security official, and Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, Saudi Arabia’s national security adviser, signed the agreement on Friday to re-activate a 2001 security cooperation agreement and another earlier agreement on trade, economy, and investment.
Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, said that the deal was a win for peace and dialogue and that Beijing would continue to help solve tough global problems.
A spokesperson for national security at the White House said that the United States was aware of the agreement and welcomed any efforts to help end the war in Yemen and reduce tensions in the Middle East.
Under President Joe Biden’s administration, long-standing strategic ties between Saudi Arabia and the United States have been strained due to the kingdom’s human rights record, the Yemeni conflict, and more recently ties with Russia and OPEC+ oil production.
On the other hand, President Xi Jinping’s high-profile visit to Saudi Arabia three months ago highlighted the expanding ties between China and Saudi Arabia.
Iran and Saudi Arabia, the two largest Shi’ite and Sunni Muslim nations in the Middle East, have been at odds for years and supported opposing sides in proxy wars, including those in Yemen and Syria.
In 2016, Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran following the storming of its embassy in Tehran during a dispute over Riyadh’s execution of a Shi’ite Muslim cleric.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that normalizing relations had great potential for the Middle East and both countries. He also hinted at taking additional steps.
“The diplomatic apparatus is actively behind the preparation of more regional steps,” Amirabdollahian tweeted. “The neighbourhood policy, as the key axis of the Iranian government’s foreign policy, is strongly moving in the right direction.”
A senior Iranian official stated that resolving the ongoing talks on Iran’s nuclear program and addressing the tensions with Saudi Arabia had become Tehran’s top priority in recent months.
The official told Reuters that “it will encourage the West to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran.”
In their efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran, Saudi Arabia and its allies have pressed world powers to address their concerns regarding Iran’s missile and drone programs for a long time.
According to Cinzia Bianco, a research fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Riyadh had been requesting security assurances from the Iranians, which may have been met by the reactivation of the security agreement from 2001.
Bianco stated that Riyadh’s requests for Iran to “actively push the Houthis to sign a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia that frees the Saudis from the Yemen war that has become a quagmire” may have also been well received by Iran.
“I am confident and optimistic about the deal if those two (issues) are in place.”
In January, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the Saudi foreign minister, stated that progress was being made toward bringing the conflict in Yemen to an end.
Oman Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi tweeted in response to Friday’s announcement that the resumption of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran was a “win-win for everyone and will benefit regional and global security.”
In 2021 and 2022, Iran and Saudi Arabia held talks in Oman and Iraq.
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