Guterres welcomes restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia

The Secretary General of the United Nations Organization (UN), António Guterres, welcomed this Friday the agreement to restore diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, also thanking China for promoting dialogue between the two countries.

The Secretary General welcomes (…) the agreement reached between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to resume diplomatic relations within two months and thanks the People’s Republic of China for hosting these recent talks and promoting dialogue between the two countries, Guterres’ office said in a statement.

The leader of the United Nations also took the opportunity to congratulate the efforts of other countries in this processlike Oman and Iraq.

Good neighborly relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are essential for the stability of the Gulf region,” he defended.

António Guterres also reiterated his willingness to “use his good offices to promote the regional dialogue to guarantee peace and security of long duration in the Gulf region”.

The White House (US presidency) also welcomed the announcement of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran, obtained after negotiations in China, but showed reluctance regarding Iran’s compliance with its obligations.

For Washington, this agreement represents a opportunity to end the civil war in Yemenwhere Saudi Arabia and Iran support opposing camps.

We would like to see this war in Yemen end and this agreement could help us reach that conclusion,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

Saudi Arabia leads the coalition supporting the Yemeni government, while Iran is suspected of providing aid to Shiite Houthi rebels. The North American executive expresses, however, not optimistic about the Yemeni conflict.

We’ll see. Whether Iran will live up to its obligations under the deal really remains to be seen. It is not a regime used to keeping its word,” added John Kirby.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have announced this Friday that they have reached an agreement to restore diplomatic relations broken by Riyadh in 2016 after the attacks on its diplomatic headquarters in the Persian country.

The agreement between the two Middle Eastern powers was signed in chinawhere the two sides held talks with the support of Beijing, according to a joint statement from the three countries.

The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have decided to resume diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies within two months,” according to the same note.

In recent years, tensions between Iran [xiita] and Saudi Arabia [sunita] increased tonehaving worsened when, in 2018, Washington unilaterally withdrew from the international agreement on the Tehran regime’s nuclear program, which had been signed in 2015.

Since then, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on Saudi Arabia, including one that targeted one of the key hubs of the Saudi oil industry in 2019, temporarily halving that country’s oil production.

Following Friday’s announcement, several Arab countries expressed satisfaction with the agreement reached.

The first reactions came from Iraq and Oman, which had mediated between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.”welcome the deal (…), according to which a new page is opened in the diplomatic relations between the two countries”.

Oman, another mediator, expressed his “satisfaction and hopethat the understanding “contributes to reinforcing security and stability in the region,” according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Another prominent reaction came from Egypt, which has not maintained diplomatic relations with Iran since 1979, and Egyptian diplomacy stated that it “follows with interest the announcement of the Saudi-Iranian agreement and hopes that it will help reduce tension in the region.”