China to host Saudi, Iranian foreign ministers as detente moves forward

Less than a month after agreeing to restore ties in a landmark deal brokered by China, the top diplomats of Saudi Arabia and Iran will meet in Beijing on Thursday. The meeting is the first formal encounter between the two countries’ foreign ministers, who last met in New York in September 2014, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian will discuss how to advance the deal announced last month and activate previous cooperation deals signed between the two countries in 1998 and 2001.

The two countries reached an agreement to resume relations on March 10 following months of China-sponsored talks between delegations led by Saudi national security adviser Musaad al-Aiban and his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani, according to a joint statement from Saudi Arabia, Iran and China released by the Saudi Foreign Ministry. The statement also stressed the need to respect the sovereignty of states and not interfere in their internal affairs.

The agreement marked a major breakthrough in the region after years of tensions between Arab Gulf countries and Iran over the latter’s growing influence in the region through its proxies and its expanding nuclear program.

An Iranian official told Reuters that the discussions will also include the reopening of embassies and the exchange of ambassadors. 

Saudi Arabia officially severed diplomatic relations with Iran in 2016 after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was ransacked and set on fire during protests against the execution of dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities. Riyadh evacuated its embassy staff and asked the Iranian diplomatic mission to leave the kingdom.

The strained relations between the two regional foes go way back. After the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, Iran has provided financial and military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his campaign against the rebels, who were backed by Saudi Arabia. 

Tensions grew when Saudi Arabia intervened in the Yemeni war in 2015, leading an Arab military coalition in support of the internationally recognized government battling the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. 

Throughout the Yemeni war, the Houthis have sent dozens of drones and fired missiles toward vital facilities in the kingdom and in border areas. In 2019, Riyadh accused Tehran of providing the weapons used in a major attack against Saudi-state owned oil facilities. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the drone attack that targeted Aramco facilities in Abqaiq, in eastern Saudi Arabia. The attack forced the kingdom to temporarily shut down half its total oil production, causing global oil prices to surge and briefly disrupting oil supplies.

The Saudi-Iranian rivalry has also been palpable in Lebanon. The traditional financial support that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries had provided to the small Mediterranean country waned with the growing influence of the Iran-backed Hezbollah. In October 2021, the Gulf kingdom recalled its ambassador over critical comments by a Lebanese minister on the Yemeni war and the Saudi-led coalition. The Saudi envoy returned to Beirut in 2022. 

Riyadh has also repeatedly accused Hezbollah of running a drug trade network in the Arab Gulf region. 

All eyes are now focused on the Saudi-Iranian detente and how it will impact the proxy wars that have been ongoing for years. 

Major regional realignments are already taking place in Syria. After years of regional isolation, it seems Syria is being welcomed back into the Arab fold. The Saudi foreign minister is expected to travel to Damascus in the coming weeks to formally invite Assad to attend the Arab League summit set for May in Riyadh.