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.
'Hash
out their differences'
"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".
Iranian
protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran on January 2, 2016
Iranian
protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran on January 2, 2016 ©
Mohammad REZA NADIMI / ISNA/AFP/File
"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.
Ali
Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, 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.
Abraham
Accords
The
pledge to resume ties comes two-and-a-half years after the UAE, which also lies
between Saudi Arabia and Iran, signed the Abraham Accords opening ties with
Israel -- a similarly unexpected move.
It follows
a broad pattern of attempts to settle regional disputes, including the
Saudi-led blockade of Qatar, which lasted from June 2017 to January 2021.
Saudi
Arabia and its allies the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt broke off ties claiming
gas-rich Qatar supported extremists and was too close to Iran -- allegations
that Doha denied. Other Gulf states also scaled back ties
But in
September, Iran welcomed an Emirati ambassador back after a six-year absence. A
month earlier, Iran said Kuwait had sent its first ambassador to Tehran since
2016.
On
Thursday, Amir-Abdollahian was in Damascus where he welcomed Arab outreach to
Syria's internationally isolated government after an earthquake struck the
war-torn country and neighbouring Turkey last month.
He also
said Tehran, which has backed Damascus during its 12 years of conflict, would
join efforts to reconcile Syria and Turkey, which has long supported rebel
groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.
There
has also been a rapprochement between Riyadh and Ankara since the 2018 killing
of Saudi journalist and government critic Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom's
Istanbul consulate.
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pushed hard to revive ties, a move analysts
describe as largely driven by economic considerations.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230310-iran-saudi-to-restore-ties-in-china-brokered-deal
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