Tehran on Sunday welcomed Saudi Arabia's highest military commander, Chief of the General Staff Fayyad bin Hamed al-Wayli, to talks on bilateral cooperation.
pro-Iranian regime tehran times Al-Ruwayri's Iranian counterpart, Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, has reportedly invited the Saudi military to participate in joint exercises with Iran. Rumors of possible joint training between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been circulating for weeks, fueled by Chinese state media, but neither side has confirmed such cooperation. The Saudi government participated as an observer in October's joint naval exercises between Russia and Iran in the Indian Ocean, and holding joint exercises would strengthen mutual trust between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which have endured historically rocky relations. Probably.
Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on Friday that Saudi Arabia's General Ruwaili said: arrived They will meet in Tehran on Sunday to discuss “expanding defense diplomacy and promoting cooperation between the two Islamic countries.” of tehran times was more enthusiastic, declaring the meeting a “major step forward in bilateral relations” given growing attempts to build trust between the two countries.
Pro-regime news outlets reported that Iranian General Bagheri had invited the Saudi military to joint war games.
“We welcome the participation of the Saudi Navy in next year's Iranian naval exercises, whether by sending naval forces or participating as observers,” Bagheri said. said.
The report did not specify whether Saudi Arabia had accepted the invitation or not, but it said that Al-Ruwaili responded as follows. ”
The “Beijing Accord” refers to the Communist Party-mediated negotiations announced in Beijing in March 2023 that normalized relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Iranian media reported in October that Saudi Arabia was seeking to “hold joint exercises in the Red Sea,” a claim denied by the Saudi government but breathlessly repeated by Chinese state media.
Prior to the agreement with China, Iran and Saudi Arabia maintained an aggressive geopolitical rivalry for years, resulting in the eruption of a proxy war in 2014 and the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist movement. took control of Yemen's capital Sanaa and expelled Saudi Arabia. He supported the legitimate government of this country. Ten years later, the Houthis and the Yemeni government continue to wage war, with the government remaining in exile in the southern port city of Aden. For now, the Houthis have halted attacks on Saudi Arabia and diverted their attention to randomly attacking civilian ships in and around the Red Sea to protect their Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist allies.
After incendiary bombing of the Saudi embassy by insurgents in 2016, two years after Yemen's civil war began, the Saudi government refused to open an embassy in Tehran, with little resistance from the Iranian terror state. The negotiations that led to the normalization of the diplomatic situation took place just before the global anti-American BRICS coalition announced it would invite both Iran and Saudi Arabia to join. Iran is moving rapidly towards membership, becoming a full member of BRICS from early 2024. Although the Saudi government claimed to have accepted the invitation, no preparations for membership were completed. The company has neither formally accepted nor rejected the invitation.
In addition to military exchanges, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, who follows the “Supreme Leader” Khamenei, called Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday expressed support for the ongoing summit of Arab and Islamic leaders in Riyadh to oppose Israel's self-defense operation against Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists.
“There is no doubt that this summit will bring effective and concrete results that will lead to an end to the crimes of the Zionist regime and the war and bloodshed in Gaza and Lebanon,” Pezeshkian said, adding that the Saudi anti-Israel summit He was praised and excused from attending. He pointed out that he had sent the first vice president to represent Iran.
A major point of contention between Iran and Saudi Arabia for many years has been Riyadh's friendly relations with the United States. Towards the end of President-elect Donald Trump's first administration, anonymous reports emerged that Saudi Arabia was considering normalizing relations with the United States. Israel. This progress almost completely collapsed under outgoing President Joe Biden, who adopted hostile policies toward Saudi Arabia and vowed to turn the country into a “state.”outcast” Signed a deal to finance the Iranian terrorist state during the 2020 presidential election.
Following Hamas' siege of Israel on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 people dead and countless human rights atrocities committed, the Saudi government has taken steps to prevent Hamas from repeating it. Opposed Israel's self-defense measures in the Gaza Strip. attack. That stance remains unchanged. The crown prince blamed Israel.genocide'' he said at a summit on Monday, retracting any suggestion that Riyadh was open to diplomacy with Jerusalem.
As relations with Iran progress, it is inevitable that some dissatisfaction will surface. In September, Saudi diplomat and former intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal publicly complained that Iran was doing nothing to stop Houthi attacks on global shipping.
“The Houthis are currently holding the world hostage at the Bab al-Mandab, the gateway to the Red Sea, but Iran has shown no sign that it can do anything there if it wants to,” al-Faisal said. Ta. [Saudi Arabia] Iran should be more active in communicating not only to us but also to other countries that Iran can be a positive factor in ensuring stability and resolving differences not only with Saudi Arabia but also with other countries. I would have expected it to show. ”
An unnamed Saudi royal official told Israeli public broadcaster Kan in April that Iran was “irresponsible” in supporting regional terrorists.
