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Iran & Saudi Arabia Agree To Re-Establish Ties: Iranian State Media

MIDEAST

In a major development in Middle Eastern geopolitical relations, Iranian state media is reporting that Tehran and Riyadh are set to re-establish diplomatic ties, with embassies in one another's capitals set to re-open within two months and a foreign ministers' meeting to take place 'soon'.

  • Diplomatic ties were cut in January 2016 following the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities. The execution sparked mass violence in majority-Shia Iran, with the Saudi embassy stormed and ransacked. This resulted in Riyadh cutting diplomatic ties, with then-Iranian President Hassan Rouhani calling the violence 'in no way justifiable'.
  • Top Iranian security official, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani, praised China for its role in re-establishing relations.
  • Iran and Saudi Arabia have for decades vied for power within the Middle East. The US will view the re-establishment of relations between an adversary (Iran) and an historic partner that relations have cooled with (Saudi) orchestrated by Washington's main global competitor (China) as a blow to its diplomatic prestige.

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