The announcement of a long-awaited deal reestablishing diplomatic ties between rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia has arrived under the auspices of China, whose growing influence in the Middle East has now produced a major milestone for Beijing’s efforts to establish itself as a leading diplomatic power.
What could come next, as hoped by experts and officials in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and even the United States, is tangible progress toward bringing an end to the devastating war in Yemen, which the United Nations considers the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The historic agreement announced Friday marked the beginning of the end for a seven-year rift between two leading Middle East powers that have vied for influence across the region for decades. It also came on the heels of high-profile visits by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia in November to attend the first-ever China-Arab States Summit and by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Beijing just last month to bolster the two nations’ recent 25-year strategic partnership agreement.
No less important is the fact that the deal came through just as Xi was sworn in to his third term during the third plenary session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.
“This is a huge diplomatic victory for China and definitely an unprecedented step in Beijing’s diplomatic engagement with the region,” Jacopo Scita, policy fellow at the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation and doctoral fellow at Durham University’s School of Government and International Affairs in the United Kingdom , told Newsweek.
“What is clear is that regional countries increasingly perceive China not just as an economic partner but as a diplomatic force that can play an active role in regional dynamics,” Scita said.
Questions remain as to whether this could serve as a prelude for a larger grand bargain involving Tehran’s broader dynamic with other countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
“There seems to be some room to interpret this as a stepping-stone to lubricate regional dialogue between Iran, Iraq, and the GCC,” Scita said.
A joint trilateral statement published by the Saudi Foreign Ministry began with crediting the People’s Republic, recognizing “the noble initiative of His Excellency President Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, of China’s support for developing good neighborly relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“The three countries announce that an agreement has been reached between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran, that includes an agreement to resume diplomatic relations between them and re-open their embassies and missions within a period not exceeding two months, and the agreement includes their affirmation of the respect for the sovereignty of states and the non-interference in internal affairs of states,” the statement said.
The three sides said that the deal laid the groundwork for the top diplomats from both Tehran and Riyadh to come together to discuss “enhancing bilateral relations,” as well as the implementation of a security cooperation agreement between them.
Such cooperation could play a key role in not only de-escalating tensions, but also realizing progress in the nine-year civil war in Yemen.
The conflict erupted in the wake of the 2011 region-wide movement of protests that ultimately led to the ousting of longtime Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. His deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, however, faced the same deep-rooted economic, political and societal issues as his predecessor, and ultimately struggled with both Shiite- and Sunni-led insurgencies.
From the Shiite camp, Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi movement, ultimately took the capital in late 2014. By March the following year, Saudi Arabia led an intervention in support of Hadi’s government.
Other facts to have emerged in the war include the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council and jihadi forces such as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).
Saudi Arabia’s direct involvement in the conflict, including through a campaign of air strikes, has been met with ballistic missile and drone strikes launched against the kingdom by Ansar Allah, which Riyadh accuses Tehran of directly arming. A fragile truce established last year ended in October and, while fighting has yet to escalate, the risk of a new violence looms heavy over a nation suffering from what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
With Iran and Saudi Arabia dealing with one another directly once again, however, Iranian officials have predicted further progress toward ending the conflict.
“The Iran-Saudi Arabia relationship is significant on three levels: bilaterally, regionally, and internationally,” the Iranian Permanent Mission to the United Nations told Newsweek. “Resumption of political relations between the two countries will benefit all three areas, including the region and the Islamic world.”
The mission also said that it “seems a resumption of political relations will speed up Yemen’s development for establishing a ceasefire, starting Yemeni-Yemeni dialogues, and forming an inclusive national government.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC, for comment.
Now that the deal has been established, Mohammed al-Hamed, a geopolitical analyst and president of the Saudi Elite group, saw a greater role for China in engaging in complex disputes that have plagued the region.
The announcement of a long-awaited deal reestablishing diplomatic ties between rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia has arrived under the auspices of China, whose growing influence in the Middle East has now produced a major milestone for Beijing’s efforts to establish itself as a leading diplomatic power.
