Saudi & Iranian Foreign Ministers To Meet In Beijing On 6 Apr

London-based Saudi outlet Asharq Al-Awsat reported earlier today that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will meet in Beijing on Thursday 6 April in order to activate the China-brokered agreement reached last month to restore diplomatic relations between the two regional powers.

• The meeting was seemingly confirmed by a similar statement from an Iranian official. An unnamed Saudi official stated to Asharq that the meeting in China - the first between the two nations' foreign ministers in seven years "came as an extension of Beijing's positive role in reaching the agreement and facilitating communication between the two countries,"
• The resumption in relations, if sustained, would come as a major development in Middle Eastern politics. The fact that the deal has been brokered by Beijing highlights both China's increasing diplomatic and economic influence in the region and the extent to which the United States - an historic ally of Saudi Arabia - has become increasingly marginalised in the region's geopolitics under the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations.