On March 10, a deal brokered by the People’s republic of China restored the severed ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia more than seven years later. The deal aimed to reopen the embassies and missions between the two countries in the next two months and put in place the decades-old security and economic cooperation deals.
The deal has created serious momentum and has resulted in an improvement in the bilateral relations between the two countries. Both of which have dominated the geopolitics of the region for the past decade by being regional rivals.
Cause of enmity between Iran and Saudi Arabia
This rivalry came as a result of Saudi Arabia cutting relations with Iran after Iranian protestors attacked the diplomatic mission of the former in 2016 and stormed its embassy in Tehran. The attack was after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shia muslim cleric named Sheik Nimr al-Nimr for terrorist activities. Many other gulf countries also reduced their level of diplomatic ties with Iran as a result of the conflict. Although, this was just the tipping point, tensions between the two nations were long brewing.
For one, they have been on the opposing side of other regional conflicts including the Yemen civil war and the Syrian civil war. They also have their own stakes in the countries of Lebanon and Iraq that are mostly conflicting. Not to mention the Shia-majority populace of Iran and the Sunni-majority populace of Saudi Arabia which has created various socio-cultural differences.
The China brokered deal was met with cautious and mild reluctance by several states and organisations, including the United States of America and the United Nations. In the past the United Nations and the United States have both attempted to reconcile the two nations but those attempts were unsuccessful.
A recent development came from the Iranian deputy chief of staff Mohammed Jamshidi’s twitter. It mentioned that the president of that country Ebrahim Raisi received an invitation from the Saudi Arabian king Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud asking him to visit the Kingdom and the capital city of Riyadh. He went on to say that the King welcomed the China-brokered deal and that Raisi accepted the king’s invitation.
It is said that both the countries are currently communicating and sharing their technical teams to arrange the visit. Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian mentioned that there are three locations for the visit that have been suggested.
Bahrain, a country which has its own complicated history with the two countries welcomed the notion of improved relations between them.
Iran on the other hand expressed its interest in improving and fixing ties with other regional Arab ‘rivals’ like the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. This indicates a shift in the foreign policy of Iran and a focus on improving diplomatic relations with its neighbourhood.
One of Iran’s top security officials, Ali Shamkhani was also reported to have held a meeting in Abu Dhabi with the United Arab Emirates president Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on 14th March. This only furthers the Iranian sentiment to fix its ties in its region.
