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  • Saudi-Iranian Relations Restored But Remain Tense

    A year after restoring diplomatic ties, Saudi Arabia and Iran still experience tensions. Conversations and diplomatic reopenings haven't translated into significant agreements due to ongoing regional conflicts and deep-seated distrust, especially concerning their allies and the situations in Yemen and Lebanon.

  • Why the Saudi-Iranian Pact Is Withstanding the Gaza War

    Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is undergoing a domestic transformation and implementing ambitious megaprojects as part of Vision 2030, marking a strategic shift from regional entanglements to national development. The detente with Iran signals a Saudi effort to avoid becoming stretched too thin between internal economic challenges and external security threats.

  • Dispute over Persian Gulf gas field poses early challenge to Saudi-Iranian rapprochement

    An escalating dispute over a gas field in the Persian Gulf poses an early challenge to a Chinese-brokered agreement to reconcile regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia and neighboring Kuwait jointly claim the offshore Al-Durra gas field. Iran says it has rights to the field, which it refers to as Arash. The two sides held talks in Iran in March but were unable to agree on a border demarcation. A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said the country would not tolerate any infringement on its rights, echoing remarks by the country’s oil minister the previous day.

  • Dispute over Persian Gulf gas field poses early challenge to Saudi-Iranian rapprochement

    It’s unclear whether the dispute over the gas field, which goes back to the 1960s, will escalate beyond rhetoric. But tensions are already high in the Persian Gulf, where the U.S. is building up military forces in response to what it says is Iran’s unlawful seizure of oil tankers and harassment of commercial vessels. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait agreed last year to jointly develop the gas field. Kuwait said at the time that they aimed to produce 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 84,000 barrels of liquefied gas per day. Iran denounced the agreement as illegal and said it should be included in any such plans.

  • Exclusive: Top UK diplomat hopes Saudi-Iran deal leads to change in Tehran’s behavior

    Britain welcomes the recent rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran and hopes that it will change Tehran’s behavior in the region, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in an interview with Al Arabiya on Thursday. “We welcome dialogue and hope that the conversations and the meetings that the Saudis had with Iran bring about a change of behavior, but ultimately the choice is for the leadership in Tehran,” Cleverly told Al Arabiya.

  • Saudi-Iran Deal: A Test Case of China’s Role as an International Mediator

    The United States has long maintained its political power and influence in the Middle East; however, the increasing Chinese foothold in the region is changing this matrix. The clash of their interests, influence, and—more certainly—quests to play a more influential role in the region in terms of diplomacy and economic security is changing the geopolitics of the Middle East. In this regard, the Saudi-Iran deal brokered by China—an equivalent to the US-led Abraham Accords to strengthen peace in the Middle East—is yet another manifestation of the great power rivalry between Beijing and Washington. Interestingly, the global rift between Washington and Beijing is widening, but the tensions between the ‘rivals’ in the region are de-escalating. From Israel and the Arab States under the Abraham Accords, to now, with the peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, it is increasingly imperative to assess China’s growing influence in the Middle East in contrast to US’s long-held dominance in the region.

  • ‘Things will just have to be accepted as tense’: Saudi-Iran ties have a long way to go despite rapprochement efforts

    Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister made a high-profile visit to Tehran over the weekend, drawing coverage and praise about the improvement in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two longtime foes. “Mutual respect, non-interference in the two countries’ internal affairs and commitment to the United Nations Charter” will be at the core of bilateral relations from now on, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat, said at a news conference during the visit.

  • Opinion: China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Hasn’t Produced Regional De-escalation

    In the span of just a week in late April and early May, Iranian forces seized two oil tankers; according to U.S. officials, Iran has harassed, attacked, or interfered with 15 internationally flagged commercial ships over the past two years. Tehran seems to be responding to U.S. sanctions enforcement, calculating that shipping—any shipping—in the Gulf is fair game. One of the tankers it took was steaming between Emirati ports in Dubai and Fujairah, even as the United Arab Emirates has normalized ties with Iran. That does not seem like de-escalation, does it?

  • Perspective: Saudi-Iran rapprochement benefits West Asia: Hamas

    As the kingdom gradually distances itself from Washington, it now finds itself no longer at odds with major elements of the Axis of Resistance – mainly Tehran and Damascus. Israel has lamented the Saudi-Iranian reconciliation and has also expressed frustration over the kingdom’s warming relations with Hamas – which Israeli media has suggested will significantly dim the prospect of normalization between Riyadh and Tel Aviv.

  • The Impact of the Saudi-Iranian Rapprochement on Middle East Conflicts

    On 10 March, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore diplomatic relations as part of a Chinese-sponsored initiative that appears aimed at reducing tensions across the Middle East. Crisis Group experts offer a 360-degree view of the implications for the region’s many flashpoints.