Saudi Arabia and Iran to Reopen Embassies and Resume Flights After Beijing Meeting

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Iranian Foreign Ministry/AP
Frances Martel

The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met for an extensive meeting in Beijing, China, on Wednesday that resulted in the formal restoration of diplomatic ties and promises to restore flights between their countries and reopen each other’s embassies within 60 days.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian committed in late March to an in-person meeting before the ongoing Islamic holy month of Ramadan concluded. They met that goal in Beijing on Wednesday under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party.

Iran and Saudi Arabia were each other’s top geopolitical rivals for years, separated by their religious split – Iran is the world’s largest Shiite Muslim nation, while Saudi Arabia’s Sunni regime is home to the holiest sites in Islam – and their alliances in the region. Both countries are still embroiled in a proxy war in Yemen—Saudi Arabia supporting the legitimate government and Iran backing the terrorist Houthi insurgency—and belong to separate geopolitical factions.

Iran’s alliances with Russia, the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, and Qatar have typically clashed with Saudi Arabia’s friendly relations with the United States, Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, and Egypt.

Riyadh announced that it had brokered a deal to thaw its relationship with Iran in March, following the deterioration of relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States under leftist President Joe Biden. The announcement occurred after senior leaders from Tehran and Riyadh met in China.

The meeting on Wednesday was meant to clarify logistics regarding the restoration of diplomatic relations, according to both Saudi and Iranian media. The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday that the two foreign ministers agreed to reopen both their embassies and consulates within 60 days and negotiate the restoration of flights connecting the two countries.

Saudi Arabia reportedly agreed to streamline the process to allow Iranian nations to make Umrah, a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca that can occur at any time (the more prestigious Hajj pilgrimage may only take place once a year).

According to SPA, Saudi Arabia and Iran said in a joint statement that they aim to focus on achieving mutual benefits:

The two sides expressed their aspiration to intensify consultative meetings and discuss ways of cooperation to achieve more positive prospects for relations, given the natural resources and economic potential that the two countries possess, and great opportunities to achieve mutual benefits.

The Iranian state outlet PressTV added that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal invited his counterpart Amir-Abdollahian to visit Saudi Arabia, an invitation he intended to accept. Riyadh had previously invited President Ebrahim Raisi to the country as well, though neither side indicated that it had begun planning any such visit as of Wednesday.

PressTV listed a variety of potential areas that Riyadh and Tehran sought to work together in, including “economy, trade, investment, technology, science, culture, sports and youth.”

PressTV also took the opportunity of the meeting to heckle its neighbor Israel, which Iran regularly threatens with total destruction.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang featured prominently in the meeting. The Saudi Foreign Ministry published a video of the Iranian and Saudi diplomats touring Beijing alongside Qin, and both countries enthusiastically thanked China for facilitating their communications.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry celebrated the meeting and suggested that it intends to be involved in Mideast diplomacy in the long term.

“China welcomes and applauds the continued steps Saudi Arabia and Iran have taken to improve their relations,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said during her regular press briefing on Thursday. “We are ready to keep playing a mediating role, support both sides in building trust, dispelling misgivings and realizing good neighborliness, and contribute China’s wisdom and strength to promoting security, stability and development in the Middle East.”

“As a good friend and a good partner, China will as always respect Middle East countries, who are the true masters of their future. We are a force for reconciliation, peace and harmony in the Middle East,” Mao asserted, vowing the Communist Party would “promote security, stability, development, prosperity, inclusiveness and harmony in the Middle East.”
Mao’s promise that China would continue to remain deeply involved in Mideast affairs followed an offer from Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Wednesday to help Iran and Saudi Arabia “get rid of external interference,” presumably not including China.

Chinese state mouthpieces have, since Iran and Saudi Arabia brokered their new agreement last month, made clear that Beijing’s intervention in the region was intended to erode the influence of the United States.

“Almost all the major media in the US and other countries admitted that the landmark agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran … can be regarded as a watershed in the Middle East, signaling the waning of Washington’s influence,” the Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times declared in March, echoing comments from the Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik.

“It is clear that China’s approach has been accepted and welcomed by most countries, which also proves that the decline of US influence in the Middle East is being caused by the US itself, not by China,” Chinese regime-friendly “professor,” Ding Long, said in the pages of the Times.

On Wednesday, the Global Times emphasized instead the expected permanence of China in Mideast affairs.

“The two countries alone would not be able to solve all the relevant problems,” another regime-approved “expert” told the Global Times, meaning Iran and Saudi Arabia.

“China can promote reconciliation and ease the tensions in the Middle East is based on a solid foundation for China to win the trust of Middle Eastern countries accumulated from the long-term adherence to the five principles of peaceful coexistence, and their historical friendship with China,” the newspaper asserted.

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