In a Chinese-brokered reconciliation, Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic relations with Iran after a seven-year rift.
The Middle East has been a conflict-strewn battleground for decades, with nary a sign of peace in sight in any of its many disputes, but last month, two of the region’s biggest rivals announced a warming of relations. In a Chinese-brokered reconciliation, Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic relations with Iran after a seven-year rift.
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian tweeted that the deal marked the beginning of “official diplomatic relations… economic and commercial cooperation, the reopening of embassies and consulates general, and the emphasis on stability, stable security, and development of the region.”
The real marker of progress will be in Yemen; if Iran is serious about ceasing destabilizing activity, it will stop supplying weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen’s eight-year civil war.
“I know from my conversations with the Saudis, they are going to be watching the Yemen space,” Tim Lenderking, the Biden administration’s envoy for Yemen, told a think tank audience in Washington earlier last week.
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