Saudi, Iranian diplomats formally meet in China

  • 06/04/23

The foreign ministers of Mideast Gulf rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran met in Beijing on 6 April, the first official meeting between the pair's top diplomats since 2016. It follows an agreement brokered by China last month to normalise ties.

A joint statement issued today said the two countries will begin arrangements to reopen their respective embassies and consulates within a two-month period, as stipulated in the March deal. "The technical teams will continue co-ordination to examine ways of expanding co-operation including the resumption of flights and bilateral visits of official and private-sector delegations and facilitating the granting of visas for the citizens of the two countries," the statement said.

Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the meeting with his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan, was "positive", with an "emphasis on stability, sustainable security and regional development".

China's brokerage of the deal marks Beijing's first major global diplomatic initiative in a region where diplomacy has historically been dominated by the US. The agreement turns the page on a particularly hostile chapter in Saudi-Iranian relations that began in 2015. Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in January 2016 — just days before the Iran nuclear deal went into effect — after Iranians stormed two Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran in protest against Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Riyadh's military intervention in Yemen, launched in 2015, turned the civil war there into a proxy Saudi-Iranian conflict, with Yemen's Houthi movement using missiles and drones supplied by Tehran to target energy and other civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

It remains uncertain to what extent the apparent detente will effect the wider region, especially in terms of bringing peace to Yemen. But for Saudi Arabia, security assurances will be paramount as it forges ahead with its Vision 2030 economic transformation plan. For Iran, the focus is on economic opportunities after years of US sanctions that have squeezed its economy and contributed to a precipitous decline in the value of its currency.


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