Riyadh, 11 March 2023 (TDI): Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to re-establish and restore their diplomatic ties and reopen their Embassies within two months.
📹 | Foreign Minister HH Prince @FaisalbinFarhan confirms that the agreement to resume relations with #Iran came as a result of two-year talks
From the statement of HH the Foreign Minister to @AlArabiya. pic.twitter.com/Tyjao7jQtw
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) March 11, 2023
The state media of Iran posted images and video of Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, with Saudi National Security Adviser Musaad bin Mohammed al-Aiban and Wang Yi, China’s most Senior Diplomat.
The regional rivals agreed to rejuvenate their relationships through the diplomatic engagements made by China, also three of the countries signed a trilateral security agreement.
The restoration of ties between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia will provide the two countries, the region and the Muslim world with huge possibilities. https://t.co/6OOT4uCrG3
— Iran Foreign Ministry 🇮🇷 (@IRIMFA_EN) March 11, 2023
This step is considered and regarded as a diplomatic breakthrough that would create stable regional and extra-regional engagements.
The Foreign Ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia will make preparations to open embassies and exchange Ambassadors.
Wang Yi remarked that China fully supports this agreement, and heartily congratulates them. According to Saudi media, the two countries agreed to respect state sovereignty and affirmed to stay away from each other’s internal affairs.
Riyadh and Tehran also agreed to reactivate the security cooperation agreement that was signed in 2001, and both sides showed commitment towards enhancing international and regional peace and security.
Beijing played a constructive and proactive role in restoring the ties of regional rivals. Both sides pledge to reorient relations in order to improve regional stability and security in the Persian Gulf.
Joint Trilateral Statement by the Kingdom of #Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic of #Iran, and the People’s Republic of #China. pic.twitter.com/MyMkcGK2s0
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) March 10, 2023
Wang said China would continue to play a diplomatic role in constructing and demonstrating responsibility towards mediating major hotspot issues in the world political community.
China brokered mediation between the two sides when Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Beijing in February 2023.
Also, the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Riyadh in December to attend meetings with oil-rich Gulf Arab nations was important in this regard.
Iran and Saudi Arabia suspended their diplomatic relations in 2016, due to contentions based on sectarian cleavages. The issues of the Syrian war and insurgency in Yemen also affected their relations in a negative manner.
