Saudi Foreign Minister to visit Iran on Saturday

Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud is scheduled to visit Iran on Saturday amid warming relations between the two important regional countries. The top Saudi diplomat will hold talks with Iranian officials during his Saturday trip to Tehran.

Earlier, some sources had raised the possibility that Saudi Arabia will reopen its embassy in Tehran during bin Farhan’s visit to Iran.

Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh on June 6 and its consulate general and representative office in OIC in Jeddah on June 7.

On March 10, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic ties after three days of intensive talks brokered by China.

Prior to the March 10 agreement, Iraq and Oman had hosted several rounds of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran after students attacked the country’s embassy in Tehran in January 2016 in protest to the execution of opposition Shia cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nim and 46 other dissidents.

The attack on the embassy was condemned by top Iranian officials, including Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Following the March 10 agreement, Iran and Saudi Arabia issued a joint statement in which the sides agreed to respect each other’s national sovereignty and avoid and kind of interference.

They also agreed to implement a security cooperation agreement signed in April 2001 and another accord reached in May 1998 to boost economic, commercial, investment, technical, scientific, cultural, sports, and youth affairs cooperation.

Since deciding to reestablish ties, the Saudi foreign minister and his Iranian counterpart Amir Abdollahian have met twice, first in Beijing on April 10 and then in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 02. The Saturday meeting will be the third in two months.

A former diplomat says the reopening of Iranian diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia sends signal of peace and cooperation to the region and the world as well.

In an interview with the Press TV website on June 07, Sabah Zanganeh, who served as Iran's ambassador to the Jeddah-based OIC, hailed the restoration of diplomatic ties between Tehran and Riyadh.

He said the reopening of Iran’s diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia is a step towards closer partnership between the two countries that sends a signal of peace and cooperation to the region and the wider world.

“Iran-Saudi normalization can greatly impact the region as it sends a signal to countries within the orbit of Saudi Arabia, particularly those in the Arabian Peninsula, to seek friendship with Tehran and avoid decisions that might displease the country,” the former diplomat stressed.

He said the reopening of the diplomatic missions will be a stepping stone for the expansion of ties between the two sides in the areas of economy, security and culture, etc. 

Zanganeh said the rapprochement can pave the way for a regional peace drive and help end small or big conflicts, particularly in Yemen and Syria.

“The rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia has so far helped ease tensions in Yemen and cemented efforts to end the suffering of people in the Arab world’s poorest nation, Yemen. Now we can expect a full-fledged ceasefire in the country,” he said.

These turn of events, the former diplomat added, can help expedite Syria’s return to the Arab fold, which will greatly help the war-torn country’s economy.  

Iran-Saudi détente comes amid the intense regional push for peace and reconciliation with many countries queuing up to restore or upgrade ties with the Islamic Republic in recent months.

This regional diplomatic drive has caused alarm in Washington and Tel Aviv.

A day after the reopening of the Iranian embassy, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held wide-ranging talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Jeddah, making a renewed push for Riyadh-Tel Aviv normalization that Saudi Kingdom has already ruled out. 

Asked if Saudi Arabia might succumb to pressure from the US and Israel, Zanganeh said Riyadh resisted pressure from former US president Donald Trump to normalize with Israel and he doesn’t see any reason to believe things would change now. 

"Saudi Arabia has its own reservations when it comes to Israel. The Saudi leaders describe themselves as custodians of the two Holy Mosques so they can’t easily make the decision to openly befriend the Israeli regime. Saudi Arabia is not the UAE or Bahrain,” he commented.

 

Iran will reopen embassy in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that the country would re-open diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia in the next two days.

Nasser Kanaani, spokesman of the ministry, said in a statement that the Iranian embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh and consulate general and representative office to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah will officially re-open on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The decision was part of the process to finish implementing the agreements, reached between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume bilateral relations, according to a statement published on the ministry’s website. Iran has appointed Alireza Enayati, a veteran diplomat, as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, a diplomatic source in Riyadh said that the reopening of the Iranian embassy will take place on Tuesday at 6:00 pm in the presence of new Ambassador Enayati. “To implement the agreement...Iran’s embassy in Riyadh, our Consulate-General in Jeddah and the office of our permanent representative to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation will be officially re-opened on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Kanaani said earlier.

Kanaani added that the embassy in Riyadh and its consulate-general in Jeddah had already begun operating to help Iranian pilgrims heading to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, set to start by the end of June. The announcement comes after Tehran named Alireza Enayati as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia last month.

Under a Chinese-brokered deal reached in March, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to re-establish relations, which were severed in 2016 following an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad.

 

Iran appoints Enayati new ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Iran has appointed Alireza Enayati, Director General of the Gulf Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, according to the Iranian media.

The Iranian semi-official news agency Fars and Iran judiciary’s news agency Mizan published the report about Enayati’s appointment as Saudi envoy. However, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is yet to confirm or comment over the media report about Enayati’s new assignment.

Enayati had served earlier as Tehran’s ambassador to Kuwait from 2014 to 2019. He previously served as assistant foreign minister of the country.

Enayati, a veteran diplomat who has extensive experience in Gulf affairs, was part of the delegation represented Iran in the rounds of talks with Saudi Arabia held in Iraq and China, to facilitate the resumption of diplomatic relations.

Saudi Arabia and Iran signed on March 10, 2023 a historic agreement, brokered by China, to re-establish diplomatic relations after a hiatus of seven years of severed ties at the end of tri-partite talks held in Beijing.

Under the historic deal, the two countries agreed to reopen embassies and consulates in each countries and implement security and economic cooperation agreements that were signed over 20 years ago. Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran in 2016 following an attack by Iranian pro-regime protesters on its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad.

The news of Enayati’s appointment came a few hours after the Iranian media denied the reports about appointment of Ali Shamkhani as new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, following his dismissal from the post of secretary general of the Supreme National Security Council.

The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) had reported earlier last month that Enayati was one of the candidates, being considered for the post of Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. It is noteworthy that an Iranian technical delegation visited Saudi Arabia on April 12, in preparation for completing the procedures for the reopening of Tehran’s embassy in Riyadh, and this was about a week after a high-level ministerial meeting.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian met in Beijing in their first official meeting between the two countries’ top diplomatic officials in more than seven years. Ahmadian said then that the announcement about appointment of the new Iranian ambassador to Saudi Arabia will be made in the near future.

Earlier this month, Abdollahian said that Saudi Arabia had introduced its new envoy to Tehran and that Iran would soon reciprocate by introducing its new envoy to Riyadh.

Flights between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume soon

The Head of Iran's Foreign Ministry office in Razavi Khorasan Province Mohammad Beheshti Monfared has confirmed that the direct flights between the Iranian city of Mashhad and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will resume soon.

Monfared made the remarks while speaking to Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). He said that the flights between Saudi Arabia and Iran will resume after updating agreements and finalizing negotiations between the officials of the two countries in the aviation sector.

Earlier, a Saudi technical team arrived in Tehran and visited its diplomatic places and embassy to discuss reopening Saudi Arabia's diplomatic missions in Iran, and then continued its trip to Mashhad to visit the Saudi Consulate General and review ways to reopen it.

Monfared said that the previous premises of Saudi Arabia’s Consulate General in Mashhad have not been used for seven years.

The Iranian technical team has also made a similar visit to Riyadh for the purpose of the embassy reopening there, IRNA said. It noted that the delegation will also pay a visit to Jeddah to inspect the Iran consulate office and its mission to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

It is worth mentioning that the Saudi delegation arrived in Iran three days after a meeting between Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian in Beijing.

The foreign ministers had signed a memorandum of understanding to resume diplomatic relations between the two countries, nearly a month after the tripartite agreement reached between Saudi Arabia and Iran, under the mediation of China, in this respect.

Israel likely to disrupt normalization of Saudi-Iranian relationship

I am inclined to share an editorial of The Jerusalem Post titled “How Israel should approach Saudi-Iranian normalization?” Each line and word has to be read very carefully because with the normalization of Saudi-Iranian relationship both the United States and Israel will lose control on the Middle East as well as crude oil trade. On top of all rejection of decades old mantra, “Iran is a bigger threat for Saudi Arabia as compared to Israel” could cause a deep dent to the armament business of the US Military Complexes.

Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to end their diplomatic rift and reopen their missions last month in a deal brokered by China. How will the rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh affect Jerusalem, and how should Israel respond to what appears to be a game-changer in the Middle East?

On the one hand, Saudi Arabia’s decision to move closer to Iran rather than Israel is of real concern. The Biden Administration has been pushing for normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel for some time, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated clearly in his inaugural speech three months ago that his main foreign policy objective is to broaden the 2020 Abraham Accords and reach an agreement with Riyadh, while halting Iran’s nuclear program – which both Israel and Saudi Arabia strongly oppose.

According to Yadlin, Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Iran will remain enemies on religious, ideological and strategic levels, and it is not at all clear that they will be able to bridge the hostility between them within two months, as their agreement stipulates.

It is doubtful whether Iran will be able to fulfill its commitment and force the Houthis, who are acting relatively independently, to completely cease attacks against Saudi Arabia from Yemeni territory.

As the Post’s Seth Frantzman pointed out, the reason why the Saudi-Iranian deal was initially portrayed as a setback for Israel is that just days before it was announced, there had been reports in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times that Saudi Arabia had presented conditions for normalizing ties with Israel – including security guarantees from the US.

Frantzman argued that although the Saudi-Iranian deal might pave the way for relations between Riyadh and Syria, which would worry Israel, it could also lead to Iran scaling down its nuclear program, which would be a welcome development.

“Saudi Arabia will not want to sign a deal and then suddenly have Iran develop a bomb that threatens the region,” he wrote. “Clearly, regional stability means not having a nuclear-armed Iran or a nuclear arms race.”

Jerusalem and Riyadh have maintained clandestine contacts over establishing relations and Netanyahu said after meeting with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in January that they had discussed “the next steps to deepen the Abraham Accords and widen the circle of peace, with an emphasis on a breakthrough with Saudi Arabia.”

No Israeli officials have gone on record about the resumption of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, or the fact that it was a diplomatic victory for China in a region in which the US has historically played the dominant role.

The hope in Jerusalem is that, as in the case of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s detente with Iran will not prevent it from forging relations with Israel in the near future. Perhaps it will even expedite the process.

Regardless, now is not the time for Israel to take a wait-and-see approach, but rather to engage with both the US and – through appropriate channels – Saudi Arabia and explore how the window of opportunity for normalization can be maintained and eventually seized.

Saudis inspect embassy premises in Tehran

A Saudi technical team, headed by Nasser Al-Ghannoum visited the headquarters of the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Sunday, the second day of its visit to the Iranian capital. The delegation held consultations on the mechanisms for reopening the Kingdom’s diplomatic missions in Iran.

The Saudi delegation arrived in Iran three days after a meeting between Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian in Beijing. The foreign ministers had signed a memorandum of understanding to resume diplomatic relations between the two countries, nearly a month after the tripartite agreement reached between Saudi Arabia and Iran, under the mediation of China, in this respect.

The state-run Iranian ISNA news agency reported that the Saudi team reached on Sunday morning to inspect the embassy, after meeting with Mehdi Honardoust, the chief of protocol at the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

In the same vein, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that its technical team will travel to Saudi Arabia, later this week, to inspect the Iranian embassy in Riyadh, and to prepare arrangements for the reopening of the Iranian embassy, ISNA reported.

Alireza Enayati, director general of Iran’s Foreign Ministry Office for Gulf Affairs, said that the Iranian delegation is putting the final touches on its visit to Saudi Arabia to reopen the embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah. “We held preliminary consultations with Saudi Arabia. The Iranian team will be divided into two groups. One is in Riyadh, and the other is heading to Jeddah,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Enayati as saying.

About the date of the visit and resumption of the flight service, he said: “It is likely to be at the end of this week. Flights will resume between the two countries, according to the agreement concluded with Saudi Arabia.”

For its part, Tasnim news agency, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, said that the technical team will head to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

The first official meeting between the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran in Beijing received considerable attention from Iranian analysts and observers, particularly regarding China’s growing role in the region. Despite domestic criticism of the policy of turning to the East, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called for pursuing this policy to nullify the effects of US sanctions.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, former Iranian parliament deputy and member of its National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that China is playing its own game of hegemony, in the way America has done during the last 100 years to be present in the international arena. “Both China and Saudi Arabia are counting the achievements of the tripartite agreement but unfortunately Iran did not properly pave the way for gaining achievements from this agreement. Saudis acted pragmatically in increasing the shares of their large companies, and moved towards ending the Yemen issue, but nothing happened on the part of Iran,” he said while noting, “the weakness of the political agreements is due to the lack of economic support.” However, Falahatpisheh, who is close to the reformists, believed that the tripartite agreement was reached in a suitable political climate.

News websites critical of the current government’s policy of distancing itself from the nuclear agreement continued to assert that the success of the agreement with Saudi Arabia, especially in the economic aspect, depends on reviving the nuclear agreement.

For its part, the Jamaran news website quoted international affairs analyst Ali Bigdeli as saying, “We are forced to solve the problem of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in some way, and Saudi Arabia cannot invest in Iran without the nuclear agreement. There is no other way to revive our dying economy, and it is getting worse, every day, with the appreciation of the currency and the severe economic problems we face,” he said while noting that people are in a dilemma as there is no way to solve it, and that Russia cannot revive Iranian economy in any way.

Regarding the possibility of commercial exchanges with Saudi Arabia, even in the absence of any agreement with regard to the nuclear issue he said, “There may be superficial exchanges, but they are not important. It is important that our relations be with a country by which we can organize our failed economy,” he added.

On its part, Donya-e-Eqtesad newspaper highlighted major trade cooperation areas between Tehran and Riyadh, which has been circulated in Iranian circles since the announcement of the resumption of relations. “The latest reports showed that there is high potential for attracting capital in various fields of industry, mining, tourism and agriculture in Iran. There are also interests for Saudi businessmen in mineral products, medical tourism in Iran and Iranian tourism, in addition to the ability to enter Saudi food products to Iran, besides the plenty of Saudi investment opportunities,” the website pointed out.

Saudi team in Tehran to discuss reopening diplomatic missions

A Saudi technical team arrived in Tehran on Saturday to discuss reopening Saudi Arabia's diplomatic missions in Iran, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

According to the report, Saudi Arabia will reopen its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad. This is considered the first official visit of a Saudi delegation to Tehran since 2016.

This comes in implementation of the joint tripartite agreement of Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, and to what was agreed upon by the two sides during the talks between the two foreign ministers on Thursday.

The Saudi technical team, headed by Nasser Al-Ghanoum, met with the Chief of Protocol at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Honardost at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Tehran.

During the meeting, the Saudi team chief expressed his thanks to Ambassador Honardost for the warm welcome and facilitating the team's arrival procedures. Honardost expressed his country's readiness to provide all facilities and support to facilitate the mission of the Saudi team.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia and Iran had agreed to reopen diplomatic missions in the two countries within a two months period as agreed upon in March, according to a joint statement issued following the historic meeting between Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian in Beijing.

The two sides agreed to proceed with necessary measures to open their embassies in Riyadh and Tehran, and their consulates general in Jeddah and Mashhad.

Technical teams from both sides will continue to coordinate and discuss ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries, including the resumption of flights, bilateral visits of public and private sector delegations, and facilitating issuance of visas.

Saudi king invites Iranian President to visit Riyadh

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz has sent an invitation letter to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi asking him to pay a visit to Riyadh.

“We will also send a similar invitation to the King of Saudi Arabia,” Amir Abdollahian told Al Jazeera.

Tehran and Riyadh reached an agreement in early March to resume diplomatic relations after years of hostility. The talks were brokered by China.

According to the National, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that his country is ready to support a follow-up process between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations.

Xi’s comments came in a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, state media CCTV reported.

The crown prince told Xi of the importance of the strategic relations between the two countries and that he appreciated Chinese efforts to develop relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, said the kingdom’s official state media SPA.

“During the call, they reviewed aspects of partnership between the kingdom and China, and joint coordination efforts to enhance cooperation between the two countries in various fields,” SPA said.

The Chinese leader said his country and Saudi Arabia will make more contributions to promote peace, stability and development in the Middle East, state media said.

Tehran and Riyadh reached an agreement in early March to resume diplomatic relations after years of hostility.