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Eurasia
12/03/2023 08:00
The agreement was struck on Friday after several days of intensive negotiations between Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani and his Saudi counterpart in Beijing. It was officially announced in a joint statement by Iran, Saudi Arabia and China, the news site recalls.
The statement was inked by Shakhani, Musaid Al Aiban, Saudi Arabia’s national security adviser, and Wang Yi, the director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party.
„The agreement is expected to significantly reduce the risk of direct clashes between the two countries in the near future and could contribute to resolving their proxy conflicts, such as the civil war in Yemen.
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"In recent years, both countries have moved ever closer to China, developing close economic and political ties, and Beijing has always tried to be sensitive to the tense relations between the two countries, maintaining a balance in its relations with Riyadh and Tehran, for example in the area of high-level diplomatic visits," András Kosztur, Senior Researcher at Hungarian think tank 21st Century Institute wrote on Facebook.
"Interestingly, there has also been a recent softening of relations between Turkey and Iran, presumably also not independently of China's continental plans, and Ankara is also trying to settle its relations with Syria," he noted. "It now seems that, with the United States taking a back seat and China's influence growing, the rivalry between the powers of the Middle East could take a more peaceful form, since China has a direct interest in maintaining peace on the Eurasian continent," Kosztur concluded.