Iran, Saudi to restore ties in major step for Middle East

TEHRAN, AFP: Regional powerhouses Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to restore ties and reopen diplomatic missions in a surprise, Chinese-brokered announcement that could have wide-ranging implications across the Middle East.

In a trilateral statement, Shiite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia said they would reopen embassies and missions within two months and implement security and economic cooperation deals signed more than 20 years ago.

Riyadh cut ties after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in 2016 following the Saudi execution of revered Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr – just one in a series of flashpoints between the two longstanding rivals.

Friday’s announcement, which follows five days of previously unannounced talks in Beijing and several rounds of dialogue in Iraq and Oman, caps a broader realignment and efforts to ease tensions in the region.

“Following talks, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have agreed to resume diplomatic relations and reopen embassies and missions within two months,” said the joint statement, which was published by both countries’ official media.

The detente between Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and Iran, a pariah for Western governments over its nuclear activities, has the potential to reshape relations across a region characterised by turbulence for decades.

Iran and Saudi Arabia support rival sides in several conflict zones including Yemen, where the Huthi rebels are backed by Tehran and Riyadh leads a military coalition supporting the Government. The two sides also vie for influence in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

“It kind of sets the scene for the region’s two superpowers to start to hash out their differences,” said Dina Esfandiary of the International Crisis Group.

“The potential downside of that, of course, is that if they are the ones who are divvying up the region and sorting things out amongst themselves, you start to lose sight of regional contexts and grievances, which could potentially be problematic.” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian welcomed the rapprochement and said Tehran will “actively prepare other regional initiatives”.

“The return to normal relations between Tehran and Riyadh offers great opportunities to the two countries, the region and the Muslim world,” he tweeted.

Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said the agreement stems from the kingdom’s preference for “political solutions and dialogue” – an approach it wants to see become the norm in the region.

Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar all hailed the announcement.

The White House too welcomed the deal, but said it remains to be seen whether the Iranians will “meet their obligations”.

The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, called the agreement a “good development”.

“It could open new horizons in the region,” said Hassan Nasrallah, who is often critical of Saudi Arabia.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani, had travelled to Beijing on Monday for “intensive negotiations with his Saudi counterpart in China in order to finally resolve the problems between Tehran and Riyadh”, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said.

Sandwiched between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Iraq had hosted several rounds of talks since April 2021. Those encounters were held at a relatively low-level, involving security and intelligence officials.

Amir-Abdollahian had said in July that the two countries were ready to move talks to a higher-level, in the political and public spheres.

But no talks had been publicly announced since April last year.