China’s Coup: Saudi and Iranian Ambassadors arrive at Reopened Embassies, Stress Bilateral Relations, Regional Development

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Aljazeera reports that on Tuesday, the Saudi ambassador to Iran and the Iranian ambassador to Saudi Arabia both took up their duties at the two countries’ embassies. The restoration of full diplomatic relations, which had been disrupted in 2016, was brokered earlier this year by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman, appears to have given up on his campaign against Iran, which began when his father, Salman Bin Abdulaziz, acceded to the throne in 2015. Bin Salman began an air war on the Helpers of God or Houthis in Yemen, accusing them of being an Iranian proxy. This vast exaggeration, however, became truer every year that he bombed the civilian cities of Yemen under Houthi rule, which impelled Sanaa to approach Iran for at least some help. The war has gone nowhere and became a quagmire.

The Saudis also supported hard line fundamentalist Salafi jihadis in Syria in the attempt to overthrow dictator Bashar al-Assad, which also failed. The Saudi-backed Army of Islam was defeated around Damascus and driven north to Idlib or even, as refugees, to Turkey. Iranian, Russian and Lebanese Shiite interventions in Syria saved the Damascus government. Bin Salman also tried to sideline the Shiite party-militia, Hezbollah, from its significant role in Lebanese politics, which tilts Beirut toward the ayatollahs. That effort also failed.

Saudi Arabia has now recognized the al-Assad government again, throwing in the towel. And it has sought peace talks, under Omani auspices, with the Houthis, seeking to wind down the fruitless Yemen War. Riyadh no doubt hopes that Iran will be willing to help put that destructive conflict in the rear view mirror.

Bin Salman could not seek the mediation of the United States with Iran, since the Trump administration had torn up the 2015 nuclear deal and had attempted to crush Iran’s economy with a trade and investment embargo and with piracy on the open seas against Iranian oil tankers. The Biden administration has continued these punitive and unilateral policies. Iran would never talk to Saudi Arabia through the US, since its leaders have good reason not to trust anything Washington says.

The Saudi-owned Alarabiya reports that the Saudi ambassador to Iran, Abdullah Alanazi, underlined the importance of strengthening the relationship between the two countries, and increasing opportunities for talks and meetings, given that the two are neighbors. He said that the two countries are blessed with many natural resources that can contribute to development.

It sounds to me as though the Saudis are interested in some of Iran’s mineral wealth.

Alanazi stressed that Bin Salman’s Vision 2030 provides the blueprint for the development of the region in a peaceful manner. That document envisages Saudi Arabia turning to a post-oil economy over time, as transportation is electrified in the industrial world to avoid the worst impact of climate change.

Beirut’s pro-Iranian al-Mayadin reported that the Iranian ambassador to Riyadh, Alireza Enayati, said on his arrival that “Iran and Saudi Arabia are capable of bilateral cooperation” into the distant future in a way that will avoid “foreign intervention in the region.”

In mid-August, Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, had visited Riyadh on the same quest to strengthen bilateral relations and to dialogue on regional and international issues.

The United States is a big loser in this significant reduction of Saudi-Iran tensions, and China is a big winner. But surely that is a shameful situation, when the US seeks to ratchet up tension between these two oil giants of the Gulf for its own purposes. The US has long hoped that Saudi Arabia’s fear of Iran would drive it into the arms of the Israelis. Although Bin Salman may eventually do a deal with Israel, it won’t be in order to isolate Iran, but in order to add yet another international relationship to the Kingdom’s inventory.

Saudi Arabia used to put all its eggs in one basket, that of Washington. Those days seem to be over. After a very rocky start, Bin Salman seems to have given up his impulsive attempts to reshape the region through main force, and he seems to have decided that good relations with Iran can help him extract himself from some of the holes into which he had dug himself and his country.