Following the reconciliation agreement promoted by China, the warring nations are one step away from sealing the new peace in an unprecedented visit by the Iranian president to Riyadh.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi favorably received an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to visit the Kingdom following the reconciliation agreement between the two countries, an Iranian official said.
“In a letter to President Raisi… the king of Saudi Arabia welcomed the agreement between the two brotherly countries [and] invited him to Riyadh,” tweeted Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, adding to this Sunday message that “Raisi welcomed the invitation.”
Moreover, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters on Sunday that the two countries had agreed to hold a meeting between their top diplomats. In this regard, he added that three locations had been suggested for the talks without specifying where.
Ali Hashem, an Al Jazeera journalist reporting from Tehran, said Amir-Abdollahian emphasized “that the two countries are exchanging technical teams to inspect the embassies in Tehran and Riyadh and see if they are ready for both missions to deploy there.”
“The Iranians suggested, according to Amir-Abdollahian, three venues for the meeting. The exchange now occurred through the Swiss embassy, not the Chinese. This could indicate several channels between the Iranians and the Saudis,” Hashem noted.
The two regional heavyweights announced on March 10 a Chinese-brokered deal to restore diplomatic ties seven years after they were severed.
Riyadh cut relations after Iranian protesters invaded and attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in Mashhad.
This followed Saudi Arabia’s execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shiite Muslim scholar, for “civil disobedience” after he proposed sedition and rebellion against the Riyadh government.
The agreement is expected to see Shiite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia reopen their embassies and missions within two months and implement security and economic cooperation agreements signed more than 20 years ago.
The détente between Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, and Iran, firmly at odds with Western governments over its nuclear activities, can reshape relations in a region characterized by turbulence for decades.
Iran and Saudi Arabia support rival sides in several conflict zones, including Yemen, where Houthi rebels are aligned with Tehran, and Riyadh leads an international military coalition supporting the government.
Consequently, restoring relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia could be the first step toward a definitive ceasefire.
Several Gulf countries followed Riyadh’s action in 2016 and cut ties with Tehran, although the UAE and Kuwait recently restored relations.
In this regard, Amir-Abdollahian said Iran also hoped that steps would be taken to normalize ties with Bahrain, a close ally of Saudi Arabia that followed Riyadh in severing diplomatic relations with Iran in 2016.
Bahrain has in the past accused Iran of training and backing a Shiite-led uprising in the Sunni-ruled Kingdom to overthrow the Manama government. However, Tehran denies any such accusations.
“An agreement was reached two months ago for Iranian and Bahraini technical delegations to visit the two countries’ embassies. We hope that some obstacles will be removed between Iran and Bahrain, and we will take basic steps to reopen the embassies,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
Although there was no immediate comment from Manama on the matter, Bahrain, along with other Gulf Arab states, welcomed the agreement between Riyadh and Tehran to restore relations.
For its part, Iran welcomed an Emirati ambassador last September after a six-year absence, and a month earlier, said Kuwait had sent its first ambassador to Tehran since 2016.
Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani also held talks with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, another sign of changing relations in the region.
Another scenario that could change is in Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment deputy director said Saturday that the Islamic Republic of Iran is Afghanistan’s top trading partner.
Khanjan Alkozi described Iran as Afghanistan’s leading trading partner.
He put the current value of Afghanistan’s trade with Iran at US$2 billion, adding that it can increase by US$10 billion annually.
He further added that his country is interested in investing in the mining and mineral sector, as well as in the agricultural sector and medicinal herbs.
Therefore, the restoration of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the Kingdom’s willingness to invest in the Islamic republic, could be a way to indirectly influence the economy of Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban since August 2021.
With information from Derecha Diario