The decision to re-establish diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia is a very historic step. And China played the role of a mediator in getting this deal done, which has another far-reaching message. Let us know these two important aspects of the Iran-Saudi Arabia agreement.
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Saudi Arabia is a Sunni majority country and Iran is Shia majority. The effect of ongoing enmity between these two is visible in the entire Middle East. As the Houthi rebels in Yemen have been getting Iran’s support, the military alliance supporting the government there has been supported by Saudi Arabia. Not only this, in the ongoing war within countries like Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, Iran has been with one group and Saudi Arabia with the other group.
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia worsened when Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia executed a Shia cleric along with 46 others in 2016. The result was that Shia protesters stormed the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia recalled its diplomats from Tehran. In this way diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia were broken.
After 7 years, both the countries have made an agreement for its restoration. Its far-reaching results are being expected. Both countries will open their respective embassies within two months. The meeting of foreign ministers of both the countries has also been fixed. Both countries have assured non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and respect for each other’s sovereignty.
With the end of the mutual tussle between the two countries in the Middle East, a better security environment will be created. Due to this, the internal war of countries like Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq will also be controlled to some extent.
In view of the US sanctions on Iran, doubts are being expressed whether Saudi Arabia will move towards any major business cooperation with Iran, but Saudi Arabia’s competition with UAE is also believed to be behind the agreement with Iran.
Saudi Arabia feels that the UAE can snatch the crown of being the axis of Sunni supremacy. UAE helps Iran to buy and sell goods by pretending to be US sanctions, which makes huge profits. That’s why Saudi Arabia took a step towards improving relations with Iran so that the profit that UAE is getting from Iran also comes to its share.
Iraq was also involved in getting the Saudi Arabia-Iran agreement, but due to its weak diplomatic and economic position, it was not able to reach its final conclusion and the field was killed by China. In fact, in the last several decades, America’s influence in the Middle East has been decreasing to a minimum. The Iran-Saudi Arabia agreement mediated by China is being seen as China’s increasing influence and increasing role in the Middle East. In this way, China wants to ensure the future of supplying its energy needs from the Middle East for a long time.
This agreement has come at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken over the third term. He visited Saudi Arabia in 2022 December. Iran’s President Ibrahim Raisi was on a visit to China in February last month. China has also presented a 12-point formula for agreement between Ukraine and Russia. It is obvious that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to establish China’s dominance by proving American dominance in the world with such steps.