Ebrahim Raisi has become the first Iranian president to visit Saudi Arabia in over a decade, meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the first time in the Kingdom.
The meeting came alongside a joint Arab-Islamic emergency summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) this weekend. He also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for the first time.
Until earlier in 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran had no formal relations and remained adversaries in regional conflicts, including in Yemen.
The leaders of both Islamic countries appeared to put aside their historical animosities aside during the week to present a united stand against Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza strip after Hamas’s attack.
The New York Times reports that Israel’s bombardment “appears to have hastened the warming of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, just as delicate diplomacy had been inching Saudi Arabia and Israel toward possible normalization of relations. Iran, which Israel considers its most dangerous foe, is a powerful patron of Hamas.”
The New York Times added that Raisi was actually greeted at the summit venue by HRH the Crown Prince, and the Iranian president draped on his shoulder a kaffiyeh, the black and white square checkered scarf that has become a badge of Palestinian identity.
The two leaders had spoken by phone for the first time just a few days after Oct. 7.
