Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday for a high-level meeting to discuss ways to thwart Israel's self-defense operations against Iranian-backed terrorist organizations, Iranian media reported.
Saudi Press Agency (SPA) Confirmed On Wednesday, Alaghushi met with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the foreign minister, which the Saudis described as necessary to discuss “bilateral relations and ways to strengthen them.”
iranian media The reason for the occasion was reportedly different, claiming the purpose was “consultation and coordination to prevent regime activities.” [Israel’s] crime. ”
Iran is seeking to step up “diplomatic efforts in coordination with regional countries to stop the Israeli regime's genocide and aggression and to alleviate the pain and suffering of our compatriots in Gaza and Lebanon,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said. . claimed that This was said in a statement regarding Araghchi's stay in Riyadh.
Iran's Tasnim News Agency explained The port visit to Saudi Arabia was part of a larger campaign to pressure Islamic countries around the world to support Iran's proxy war against Israel and direct hostilities against the country. Araghchi also claimed that Iran was trying to help broker a “ceasefire that was accepted and agreed to by the resistance” (a term Iran uses for the network of jihadist terrorist groups).
This meeting is notable because it is the second high-level exchange between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the past month (Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met with Crown Prince Faisal in Doha, Qatar, last week). This is because it involves a dramatic change in the tone of discourse regarding Israel. It came from the Saudi government. A year ago, ahead of the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Saudi leaders openly talked about the possibility of normalizing relations with Israel, as other Gulf states have done. We were discussing.
The Trump administration-era Abraham Accords brought full normalization to Israel's relations with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but the momentum left the Saudi government, once an ally of the United States, as a “country.” The situation has stalled under current President Joe Biden, who has made this a priority.outcast” over the gruesome murder of Islamist journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden sought to undo the damage done to U.S.-Saudi relations. visit Saudi Arabia itself imposed sanctions on Saudi Arabia in 2022, but the damage appears to have been done, and Saudi Arabia has since emerged in the orbit of America's adversaries such as China and Iran.
China brokered a normalization deal between Tehran and Riyadh in early 2023, reinstating each country's ambassadors and allowing the anti-American BRICS coalition to extend its invitation to join the two countries. Iran quickly accepted, but Saudi Arabia has not yet completed the accession process.
The normalization agreement unites Iran and Saudi Arabia against Israel's cause. Starting October 7, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a multifaceted self-defense effort against a number of Iranian-backed terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah, and Yemen's Houthis. Iran claims its operations against jihadist terrorists amount to “genocide” against Muslims in general and Palestinians and Lebanese in particular.
Araghchi was welcomed in Saudi Arabia the next day. protect The October 7 atrocity that Iran calls the “Al-Aqsa Flood”.
The Saudi message about the meeting, similar to Pezeshkian's meeting with the Saudi foreign minister a week earlier, focused far more on the two countries' bilateral relations than on Israel. Faisal declared that Saudi Arabia and Iran “want to permanently close the chapter on their differences, focus on resolving their issues, and develop their relations as two friendly and brotherly countries.”
Regarding Israel, he added, “I trust your wisdom and insight to manage the situation and contribute to peace and stability in the region.”
Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, harshly criticized Israel for defending it following the October 7 terrorist attack. In September, bin Salman declared that the “Palestinian cause” vis-à-vis Israel was the “top priority” of his policy. country.
“We reiterate that Saudi Arabia rejects and strongly condemns the crimes against the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation authorities, which have ushered in a new chapter of suffering in disregard of international and humanitarian law,” he said. declared.
“Saudi Arabia will not cease its unrelenting efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and I assure you that without this, Saudi Arabia will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel,” the Crown Prince said. I concluded.
In September 2023, before the Hamas attack, bin Salman said in an interview that his country was working hard to normalize relations with Israel and called for the establishment of a Palestinian state as a requirement for diplomatic engagement with Israel. Mention was omitted.
“We have to see where it goes. We hope it will make life easier for the Palestinians and win Israel as a player in the Middle East,” he said. said Hopefully.
Months later, in January, Foreign Minister Faisal lamented that there had been “good progress” with Israel before October 7, but suggested the attacks had made full normalization impossible.
“I think up until October 7th, we were making very good progress. It's hard to explain how close we were. It can't really be quantified,” Prince Faisal said. He spoke at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. “We were working on the Palestinian issue, which was important to us, and we were making good progress.”
