Saudi, Iranian Foreign Ministers Meet in Beijing to Discuss Ties
Reopening of embassies and appointment of ambassadors on the agenda after China brokered deal to restore relations between the rivals
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran are meeting in Beijing, weeks after the Middle East rivals agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations in a China-brokered deal that jolted regional geopolitics.
Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Iran’s Hossein Amir-Abdollahian are expected to discuss a range of issues, including the reopening of embassies, the appointment of ambassadors and a planned visit to Saudi Arabia by the Iranian president.
The top diplomats have spoken by phone repeatedly since March 10, when their governments announced they would end seven years of estrangement and reopen embassies within two months. On Thursday, they met in China flanked by aides, according to a video broadcast by Saudi state television.
Riyadh and Tehran have been divided for decades by longstanding security and sectarian tensions that have fueled their competition for regional dominance.
China’s surprise role in hammering out the detente accelerated a geopolitical realignment in the Middle East, as rivalries that erupted during the Arab Spring fade and outside powers besides the U.S. vie for influence. It also signals a new chapter in competition between Washington and Beijing.
The deal takes on some of the most sensitive issues between two countries, including Iranian support for Houthi rebels in Yemen. In the weeks since it was announced, Saudi Arabia has also neared an agreement to restore diplomatic ties with Syria, which embraced Iran over the past decade of civil war. Those negotiations were mediated by Russia, leaving the U.S. on the sidelines of another major development in the Middle East.
In an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this week, CIA Director William Burns expressed frustration with the Saudis, according to people familiar with the matter. He told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the U.S. has felt blindsided by Riyadh’s rapprochement with Iran and Syria—countries that remain heavily sanctioned by the West—under the auspices of Washington’s global rivals.
A U.S. official said Mr. Burns discussed cooperation on intelligence and counterterrorism with Saudi officials.
Thursday’s meeting between the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers is a precursor to a high-level summit of Gulf Arab leaders and Iranian officials that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has proposed to host later this year. Iranian state-run news agency IRNA said Tehran appointed an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates for the first time in seven years.
Other high-level talks are also in the works. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has accepted a Saudi invitation to visit the kingdom, people familiar with the matter said. No date for the visit has been announced.
It would be Mr. Raisi’s first official trip to the kingdom. Previous Iranian presidents and Saudi kings have made similar visits during previous periods of warming relations.
Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters angry at the kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the city of Mashhad.
For Tehran, the move to improve ties with Riyadh eases the international isolation it has faced since antigovernment protests last fall and the collapse of talks aimed at restoring a 2015 international nuclear deal dashed its hopes of relief from economic sanctions.
Its rapprochement with Riyadh helps Tehran with its longstanding goal of diminishing U.S. influence in the Middle East, drawing one of Washington’s closest partners away from its orbit and bringing China into a more active diplomatic role in the region.
Unlike the U.S., which doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with Iran, China has close diplomatic and economic ties with both Tehran and Riyadh. It is Iran’s biggest trade partner and a leading buyer of oil from Saudi Arabia, giving it leverage with both sides.