The foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia and Iran made it official to fully restore diplomatic ties and resume direct flights between the once-rival countries.
Iran’s Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud signed the follow-up statement on Thursday alongside their Chinese counterpart Qin Gang who helped to broker the agreement.
It wasn’t that long ago that it would have been impossible to imagine these two foreign ministers grasping each other’s hands with broad smiles. The two countries severed ties in 2016 after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in response to the kingdom’s execution of Shia Muslim leader Nimr al-Nimr.
According to their new agreement, the two sides will spend the next two months to open (or re-open) embassies and consulates in the other’s countries.
The Implications of the Saudi-Iran Meeting
- SAUDI ARABIA: The meeting marks another step closer between China and Saudi Arabia, less than a week after the announcement that Riyadh is joining the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a dialogue partner. Western powers are also nervous about Saudi attempts to normalize relations between the Arab League and Syria, a move China supports.
- IRAN: It signals a new opening for the isolated country, as trade with China also throws it an economic lifeline. Iran is moving to further normalize relations with its neighbors in the Middle East, announcing that it has appointed an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, its first in seven years.
- CHINA: China’s state-owned Global Times exulted in how the meeting extends the diplomatic dividend from March’s deal and called it a ‘blow to U.S. diplomatic influence.’ However, GT also used quotes from Chinese experts to lower expectations, cautioning that there are many details still to resolve and that Beijing will keep playing its ‘vital role’ in facilitating the thaw.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Beijing will likely cite the meeting as further proof of China’s emerging diplomatic role in the Middle East, but the state reporting also implies that full normalization is still a work in progress.
SUGGESTED READING:
- Reuters: Top Iranian, Saudi envoys meet in China, discuss diplomatic ties
- CNN: Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to reopen embassies during Beijing talks on resumption of diplomatic ties by dam Pourahmadi, Irene Nasser and Simone McCarthy
