{"id":10513,"date":"2023-04-23T13:30:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-23T13:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=10513"},"modified":"2023-04-23T13:30:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T13:30:13","slug":"why-iran-and-saudi-arabia-making-nice-is-a-very-big-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=10513","title":{"rendered":"Why Iran and Saudi Arabia making nice is a very big deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\n\n&#8220;Saudi Arabia and Iran restarted diplomatic relations after seven years of high tensions and violent exchanges between them. Within two months, they will reopen embassies and have both&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/03\/10\/world\/middleeast\/saudi-arabia-iran-reestablish-ties.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pledged<\/a>&nbsp;\u201crespect for the sovereignty of states and noninterference in their internal affairs.\u201d The two countries have been engaged in a proxy war in Yemen over the past eight years that has calmed down until recently, and have been on opposite sides of conflicts throughout the Middle East, in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. While normalization may not mean a cessation of violence throughout the region, the pause in outright hostilities between the two should be welcomed by all. The breakthrough builds on several years of talks in Iraq and Oman.&#8221;<br>&#8230;<br>&#8220;That China played a role shows where global power is shifting \u2014 and a meaningful change in how Chinese President Xi Jinping conducts Middle East policy. Thus far, Beijing has been cautious in taking an active role there; this diplomacy, while significant, doesn\u2019t mean China is trying to displace the US security role in the Middle East, Freeman explained. Instead,China is \u201ctrying to produce a peaceful, international environment there, in which you can do business,\u201d he told me.&#8221;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>&#8230;<br>&#8220;China is the largest&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/agsiw.org\/growing-china-gulf-economic-relations-have-limits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">trading partner of the Gulf<\/a>&nbsp;and most of the Middle East, and it has a real stake in an easing of tensions. Looking ahead, Saudi Arabia made a strategic choice here and elsewhere \u2014 it\u2019s looking to join the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-02-15\/brics-debates-expansion-as-iran-saudi-arabia-seek-entry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BRICS<\/a>&nbsp;grouping of developing countries and take on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2147261\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">observer status<\/a>&nbsp;at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt indicates that the kingdom wants to focus on domestic economic development over geopolitical conflicts at present, particularly as conflicts in Syria and Yemen settle into stalemate and Iran\u2019s leaders are preoccupied by domestic unrest,\u201d says Andrew Leber, a political scientist focused on Saudi Arabia at Tulane University.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/world-politics\/2023\/3\/10\/23634464\/deal-saudi-arabia-iran-china-explained\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.vox.com\/world-politics\/2023\/3\/10\/23634464\/deal-saudi-arabia-iran-china-explained<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Saudi Arabia and Iran restarted diplomatic relations after seven years of high tensions and violent exchanges between them. Within two months, they will reopen embassies and have both pledged \u201crespect for the sovereignty of states and noninterference in their internal affairs.\u201d The two countries have been engaged in a proxy war in Yemen over the past eight years that has calmed down until recently, and have been on opposite sides of conflicts throughout the Middle East, in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. While normalization may not mean a cessation of violence throughout the region, the pause in outright hostilities between the two should be welcomed by all. The breakthrough builds on several years of talks in Iraq and Oman.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That China played a role shows where global power is shifting \u2014 and a meaningful change in how Chinese President Xi Jinping conducts Middle East policy. Thus far, Beijing has been cautious in taking an active role there; this diplomacy, while significant, doesn\u2019t mean China is trying to displace the US security role in the Middle East, Freeman explained. Instead, China is \u201ctrying to produce a peaceful, international environment there, in which you can do business,\u201d he told me.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;China is the largest trading partner of the Gulf and most of the Middle East, and it has a real stake in an easing of tensions. Looking ahead, Saudi Arabia made a strategic choice here and elsewhere \u2014 it\u2019s looking to join the BRICS grouping of developing countries and take on observer status at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.<br \/>\n\u201cIt indicates that the kingdom wants to focus on domestic economic development over geopolitical conflicts at present, particularly as conflicts in Syria and Yemen settle into stalemate and Iran\u2019s leaders are preoccupied by domestic unrest,\u201d says Andrew Leber, a political scientist focused on Saudi Arabia at Tulane University.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[390,314,156,391,575],"class_list":["post-10513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-diplomacy","tag-international-relations","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-saudi-arabia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10514,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10513\/revisions\/10514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}