After a stunning arrangement negotiated by China, top diplomats from Middle East rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing on Thursday. They agreed to cooperate to bring “security and stability” to their unrest-ridden region.
The two sides agreed to continue cooperating to strengthen ties in a joint statement issued following discussions between Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
According to the statement, “the two sides stressed the necessity of following up on the Beijing Agreement’s implementation and its activation in a way that extends mutual confidence and the sectors of cooperation and contributes to security, stability, and prosperity in the region”.
In March, Tehran and Riyadh announced a deal mediated by Beijing to mend ties that had been ruptured seven years earlier when Iranian demonstrators assaulted Saudi diplomatic missions.
The ministers’ trip to Beijing coincided with the visits of French President Emmanuel Macron and EU leader Ursula von der Leyen, who were both in Beijing to lobby Chinese President Xi Jinping on behalf of ending the crisis in Ukraine.
Shiite-majority Iran, which has been at odds with Western nations over its nuclear ambitions, and mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter in the world, might change relations in a region that has been plagued by unrest for decades.
Iran’s foreign ministry stated in a statement that the two parties negotiated and exchanged views with an emphasis on the official resumption of bilateral relations and the necessary steps toward the reopening of the embassies and consulates of the two nations.
A video showing the two shaking hands in front of the Saudi and Iranian flags, conversing, and smiling was shown on the Saudi state TV channel Al Ekhbariya.
Beijing welcomed the first official meeting between the foreign ministers of the two nations in more than seven years and Beijing’s active mediation in diplomacy in a readout from state broadcaster CCTV.
According to the agreement reached last month, the two nations must fulfill security and economic cooperation agreements that were inked more than 20 years ago and reopen their embassies and missions within two months.
Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in January 2016 after protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran and consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad in response to Riyadh’s execution of Saudi opposition Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
The foreign ministers’ meeting is expected to be followed by a visit to Riyadh by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber said on Monday that Raisi accepted an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.
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