Report by Yashasvi Anika Tandon
Saudi Arabia is a long-time ally of United States. Iran has been under US sanctions since 1984.
Further, in recent years, Iran has protested against the sanctions and continued its independent nuclear reactor and other science programs.
Therefore, the meeting of these two countries was a major diplomatic step forward.
On 10th March 2023, there was a diplomatic breakthrough between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The meeting was held in China and was also mediated by China.
The two countries have decided to resume diplomatic ties after 7 years.
There were a number of discussions from 6th to 10th March 2023 in Beijing before this step was taken.
A Brief History
1. Diplomatic ties of Iran were cut off by Saudi Arabia in 2016. This happened because there was a Saudi Arabian embassy (a place set up in the foreign country where the ambassador or representative of another country lives) set up in Tehran and Iranian protesters charged into it. This attack took place as Saudi Arabian authorities executed 47 Iranian rebels as Iranian protesters had executed a Shia Muslim cleric.
2. Saudi Arabia also said that Iran had launched missile and drone attacks on the country’s oil facilities including attacks on its tankers but Iran refuted this claim.
3. Missile and drone attacks in Saudi Arabia have also been caused by the Yemen and Iran related Houthi movement.
The two countries decided to resume the Security Cooperation Agreement which was started in 2001. They decided to revive the General Agreement for Cooperation started in 1998, in the fields of trade, sports and youth, science, economy, technology, and culture.
The following statement was released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saudi Arabia:
The two countries have decided to open embassies in China as well. Iraq and Oman also helped in resuming ties. Iran and Saudi Arabia further declared that they would respect the sovereignty of the states and would not interfere in the internal matters of each other.
The United Nations has also welcomed this breakthrough and thanked China for its role.
Why did China do this?
All of the following points are opinions.
China is Iran’s No. 1 trade partner. It buys oil from Iran in spite of US sanctions.
Also, this helps China establish itself as a good global leader that has the ability to bring about positive international change. So far, the US has primarily been the decider of relations between its allies and other countries.