ISTANBUL — The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran met in Beijing on Thursday, the highest-level meeting between senior diplomats from the two countries in more than seven years and the latest sign of easing tensions between regional powers whose enmity has fueled instability and conflict across the Middle East.
The meeting between Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud of Saudi Arabia and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, follows an agreement signed by the two sides in March that promised the restoration of diplomatic relations and other steps toward normalization, after talks hosted by China.
A statement released by the two governments Thursday reaffirmed the March agreement, mentioning detailed initiatives including the resumption of flights between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the reopening of embassies and consulates, commercial exchanges and the mutual granting of visas. The statement also thanked Switzerland, suggesting its government had played a mediating role.
Amirabdollahian, who was photographed clasping hands with al-Saud as well as Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, called the meeting with his Saudi counterpart “positive” in a message posted on Twitter.
Analysts say the warming ties are due to a convergence of interests. Iran, under Western sanctions and trying to suffocate a domestic protest movement, has looked to ease its global and regional isolation; Saudi Arabia, faced with security threats from Iran that threaten its plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil, is seeking to tamp down regional tensions — a strategy that has included pursuing partnerships with major world powers beyond the United States.
The agreement — and Thursday’s images of the smiling Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers flanking China’s envoy — was also a diplomatic victory for Beijing and a result of its deepening economic relationships across the Persian Gulf region.
China’s high-profile engagement has underscored the diminished role in the Middle East of its rival, the United States — a product of strained U.S. relations with some of the gulf monarchies since the Arab Spring uprisings more than a decade ago, as well as a convoluted policy toward Iran that has swung between efforts to isolate the country and a faltering bid to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers.
Over the past few years, the United States has appeared to prioritize the normalization of relations between Israel, its main regional ally, and Arab governments. The initiative has increased cooperation between some Arab nations and Israel, including commercial activity, while increasing Iran’s seclusion. But it has done little to cool regional tensions, and several important gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have so far refused to join.
Formal relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran collapsed suddenly in early 2016 after Iranian protesters, angered by the kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, sacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Days later, Iran accused Saudi Arabia of trying to bomb its embassy in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.
In the years that followed, Saudi Arabia accused Iran of supplying weapons to the Houthis, a rebel movement in Yemen that has fought against a Saudi-led coalition. A wave of drone strikes on Saudi oil facilities in 2019 that temporarily crippled the kingdom’s oil output were among several cross-border attacks the Saudis and their gulf allies blamed on Iran, part of an alarming escalation of regional hostilities.
The agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia came after several years of exploratory talks mediated by Iraq and Oman. The agreement could help lead to a partial resolution of the civil war in Yemen, which has lasted for more than eight years and killed tens of thousands of people.
“The two sides also agreed to enhance their cooperation in everything that would achieve security and stability in the region,” Thursday’s statement said.
Analysts cautioned that the long history of rivalry and mistrust between Saudi Arabia and Iran could still derail the agreement. But the speed at which they seemed to be moving to restore ties suggested a coalescing around common interests in a rapidly changing region.
Saudi Arabia and its young de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman, “realize their focus is going to be heavily domestic for the next few years,” as the kingdom rushes to deliver on an ambitious plan to modernize the country by 2030, including by diversifying its economy, said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
As economic measures took “center stage” and the Saudis tried to lure investors and other visitors to the kingdom, the government could ill afford the kinds of missile strikes and other attacks it had weathered in recent years.
The agreement also represented an acknowledgment that the nuclear deal with Iran was unlikely to be revived, along with security guarantees that Saudi Arabia and other gulf states hoped might follow from the deal’s restoration.
And in choosing China to underwrite the agreement, the Saudis were sending a clear signal they saw Beijing as a more reliable long-term partner than the United States. “There is a perception the U.S. is disengaging” from the Middle East — a perception that took hold over several U.S. administrations and included a sense that the White House was indifferent to Saudi security concerns, Ulrichsen said.
Mohammed “sees China as present and visible in a way he doesn’t see the U.S.,” he added.
Dadouch reported from Beirut.