Iran and Saudi Arabia Reestablish Diplomatic Ties After Seven-Year Rift dbreview24

Iran And Saudi Arabia Have Agreed To Reestablish Diplomatic relations after seven years. They'll also activate cooperation deals and hold talks on how to further strengthen their ties. The announcement came after discussions in China, and both sides have been quoted praising Beijing's role in the process. The countries have had no formal ties since 2016, when Riyadh Embassy in Tehran was attacked following the Saudi execution of a Shia cleric. Saudi Arabia has traditionally been close to the United States

Iran and Saudi Arabia Reestablish Diplomatic Ties After Seven-Year Rift

Whose ties with both Iran and China have been strained. Well, a short while ago I spoke to our security correspondent Frank Gardner, who said the thawing of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran was like 2 neighbours who don't like each other very much. But no, they have to try to get on.

China Plays Key Role in Reconciliation Between Iran and Saudi Arabia

It's a need for dialogue. We had the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, over here in London earlier this week and he said, look, our door for dialogue is always open with Iran. I think we shouldn't delude ourselves that there is any great sudden rapproche more in terms of.Policy. Iran and Saudi Arabia don't like each other in terms of the governments. They are on completely opposite sides when it comes to the war in Yemen, the conflict in Syria, the treatment of Shia minority in Saudi Arabia. But they both live in a dangerous and volatile neighbourhood and they've got to get on with each other. And it can't go on this endless friction because it's expensive. You've got Iran building up a massive arsenal of ballistic missiles, having a suspect nuclear program.

The Need for Dialogue: Can Iran and Saudi Arabia Truly Strengthen Ties

Saudi Arabia had a bit of a wake up call in September 2019 when a flurry of missiles and drones slammed into its oil infrastructure and knocked out half its oil export production in just a matters of a few minutes. Now Iran never owned up to that, but the suspicion was that Iran was behind it and that I think was a wake up call, decided that it can't take on Iran in a conflict and that they've got to try and reach an accommodation. So that's what this is a part of.

So with that.Mind How genuine is this in terms of diplomatic ties then

Well, Saudi Arabia is moving. They may not admit it openly. They are drifting slowly away from the West. Not completely. America is still the big guarantor of security there. But the Saudis have reached a conclusion some time ago that they cannot rely on the West as a partner that.

Saudi Arabia Shifts Focus to East as Ties with Iran Thaw

That they look at, they look at some of the mistakes. They look at the fact that President Obama, for example, said it was a red line in Syria, that if he used chemical weapons, that was it. Well, the red line was crossed and America didn't do anything. And America, when the Arab Spring came, they dumped President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt like a hot potato. So they don't trust America and they are worried about this, what the so-called pivot to the east, to the Asia Pacific region that happened under the Obama administration

Saudi Arabia's Wake-Up Call: What Led to the Thawing of Relations with Iran

They worried that America is losing interest in the Gulf, so they're reaching out to countries like China. It's very significant that China was the one that brokered this agreement. China is becoming more and more important in the Middle East, and more and more Arab Gulf countries are not just gulf countries. Arab countries are starting to improve their ties with China and to look eastwards rather than the West

Our security correspondent Frank Gardner there