(CNN) — Saudi Arabia and Iran announced Friday that they had agreed to restore diplomatic ties following seven years of hostilities, in a deal between the arch-regional enemies that might have far-reaching implications for the Middle East.
Riyadh and Tehran plan to reopen their embassies within two months under a Chinese-brokered deal, Saudi Arabia and Iran said in a joint statement following talks in Beijing on Friday.
They also hope to reapply a security pact signed 22 years ago whereby both parties agreed to cooperate in the fight once morest terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering, as well as revive a 1998 trade and technology agreement.
Friday’s announcement is also a diplomatic victory for China in a Gulf region long considered part of the US domain of influence. It comes at a time when the Biden administration is trying to score its own victory in the Middle East by trying to broker a normalization pact between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
According to Iranian state media, talks have been taking place in Beijing since March 6 between Iran’s National Security chief Ali Shamkhani, Saudi National Security Council adviser Mosaed Bin Mohammad Al-Aiban, and the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi.
Video of the signing ceremony broadcast by Iranian media showed the officials sitting around tables on opposite sides with the flags of Saudi Arabia, Iran and China around them.
“We will continue to play a constructive role in properly managing the contentious issues in the world today, in accordance with the wishes of all countries, and demonstrate our responsibility as a major country,” Wang said, adding that Chinese President Xi Jinping had backed him from the start.
In an apparent counterblow to US influence, Wang asserted that “the world is not limited to the Ukraine issue,” while stressing that the fate of the Middle East must be determined by the peoples of the Middle East.
“The foreign ministers of both countries will meet to implement this decision and take the necessary steps for the exchange of ambassadors,” the joint statement reads. “The two parties agree to respect the sovereignty and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.”
Saudi Arabia and Iran had previously held reconciliation talks in Oman and Iraq.
Riyadh severed ties with Tehran in 2016 following Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital following the execution of a Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia. Since then, they have waged a proxy war involving several neighboring countries, bringing the region ever closer to war.
In Yemen, the two countries have backed opposing sides of a civil war that the United Nations has described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. From there, Houthi rebels have fired missiles at both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, targeting oil infrastructure vital to their economies.
However, Saudi Arabia has entered into direct talks with the Houthis, and an unofficial ceasefire appears to be in place.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian welcomed the deal, saying Tehran would step up its diplomatic efforts in the region.
“The normalization of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia strengthens the two countries, the region and the Muslim world,” Amir-Abdollahian tweeted on Friday.
Tehran finds itself increasingly isolated on the international scene. Talks with world powers to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact are frozen and relations with Western countries have become even more tense due to the brutal crackdown on protests launched in September by the Islamic Republic.
Russia, Iran’s main international ally, is busy with the war in Ukraine, while China, its other ally, has lately courted Tehran’s arch-rival Saudi Arabia.
“For Saudi Arabia, reaching out to Iran is a key part of a major diplomatic offensive on all fronts,” said Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “Just as Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Iran, there is a potential framework for, in time, perhaps normalizing with Israel as well.”
“The fact that it was agreed in Beijing is very significant for China and its rise as a diplomatic and strategic player in the Gulf region,” Ibish said. “This seems to acknowledge China’s unique role in being able to mediate relations between Tehran and Riyadh, entering a position previously held by European countries, if not the United States, and this will not be particularly liked by Washington.”
The reconciliation comes as China expands its diplomatic contacts in the Arab world. In December, Chinese President Xi Jinping was received in Riyadh in an extravagant ceremony as part of a visit that brought together 14 Arab heads of state. That was just months following a relatively low-key meeting with US President Joe Biden, whose relationship with Saudi Arabia has been distant.
“China’s role as a go-between is surprising and might herald a bolder diplomatic stance,” said Sanam Vakil, senior fellow for the Middle East and North Africa program at London’s Chatham House think tank.
“But we must be careful not to exaggerate Beijing’s intentions. It is more regarding China’s interests in the region. China has brought together two key players — the regional and the economic — with the aim of reducing the regional tensions and facilitate greater economic engagement with both”.
Xiaofei Xu, Shawn Deng and Abbas Al Lawati contributed to this reporting.
