The diplomatic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran continues. A historic bilateral reconciliation agreement should be implemented before the end of the month of Ramadan.
Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers have planned to meet before the end of Ramadan to implement a historic bilateral reconciliation agreement. Between Tehran and Riyadh, the signs of rapprochement are multiplying, anearly years of estrangement and tension. Phone calls and announcements are multiplying, testifying to this new climate.
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The two foreign ministers are expected to meet very soon, possibly in Moscow. For his part, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi even received an invitation from King Salman to visit the kingdom. In the engagement basket, there is of course the reopening of the respective embassies by mid-May, but also the announcement of Saudi investments in Iran, while the economy of the Islamic Republic is weighed down by the Western sanctions.
However, when Saudi Arabia pulls out its checkbook, we are talking in billions of dollars, as we have seen after the reconciliation between Riyadh and Turkey. Saudi Arabia has just announced a deposit of five billion dollars to the Turkish central bank in order to give a boost to the economy of this country weakened by inflation.
What are the links between Saudi Arabia and Israel?
However, the rivalry between these two giants of the Middle East did not disappear with the wave of a magic wand. We will see in the coming months if Iran plays appeasement in Yemen where Saudi Arabia is bogged down militarily, but also in Lebanon and Syria, two countries where Iran is very involved. In any case, in Tehran as in Riyadh, we understood that the permanent confrontation was a lose-lose game. Iran needs money and Arabia needs stability to meet its internal challenges, especially societal and economic ones.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is entangled in his reform of the Supreme Court, this Iranian-Saudi rapprochement mechanically postpones a possible normalization with Saudi Arabia on the model of the Abraham Accords. Israel will still have to wait. But above all, Iran, its sworn enemy, is emerging from its isolation, and is even announcing an upcoming reconciliation with Bahrain, which had signed peace with the Jewish state. Suffice to say that the front of the petromonarchies that Israel wanted to mobilize against the Islamic Republic, has had its day. On the Arab side of the Persian Gulf, the watchword is de-escalation with Iran, no offense to Benyamin Netanyahu.