Iran and Saudi Arabia have announced the restoration of diplomatic relations following talks in China, according to a joint statement released on Friday (March 10) by the state media of these two Middle Eastern heavyweights whose relations had been broken since 2016.
“Following talks, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have agreed to resume diplomatic relations and to reopen embassies and (diplomatic) representations within a maximum period of two months”said the Irna agency, citing the official statement also reproduced by the Saudi press agency SPA.
Seven years without diplomatic relations
Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran had ceased diplomatic relations seven years ago. The break came after protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic following Riyadh’s execution of a famous Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr.
According to Irna, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, had visited Beijing on Monday “for intensive negotiations with his Saudi counterpart in China aimed at finally resolving the differences between Tehran and Riyadh”. Since April 2021, Iraq has hosted a series of meetings between security officials from the two rival powers to bring the two countries closer together.
In their joint statement, Iran and Saudi Arabia “thank the Republic of Iraq and the Sultanate of Oman for hosting talks between the two sides in 2021 and 2022, and the leadership and government of the People’s Republic of China for hosting and supporting the talks in this country “.
Tehran and Riyadh support rival parties in several conflicts in the region, notably in Yemen. Iran has a dominating influence in Iraq and Lebanon and militarily and politically supports the regime in Syria.