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Saudi Arabia has invited Iran’s foreign minister to visit Riyadh to ease tensions between the two Gulf superpowers, which are at loggerheads across the Middle East.
Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi foreign minister, told a news conference in the capital Riyadh that he had invited his counterpart, Javad Zarif, “anytime he sees fit to come”.
“Our hope is that Iran becomes a part of the effort to make the region as safe as possible,” Mr al-Faisal said.
The invitation appeared to be an attempt to reconcile two states that sit on opposite sides of a regional sectarian divide that has widened during the unrest of the Arab spring.
Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran are involved in a series of proxy battles across the region, accusing each other of backing either violent sectarian groups or repressive governments from Syria and Lebanon to Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen.
Analysts said Saudi Arabia was mainly concerned about Iran’s backing for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which has recently made military gains in the Syrian civil war.
“Syria is number one on the agenda,” said Jamal Khashoggi, a leading Saudi commentator. “Syria is the manifestation of Iranian expansionism that Saudi is most worried about.”
Iran’s support for the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah is another major worry for Riyadh.
Tehran, meanwhile, is concerned that the Gulf states have been fomenting the extremist groups that have been fighting Damascus and destabilising neighbouring Iraq.
The invitation from Riyadh is thought to have been facilitated by Oman, Iran’s closest Arab ally. Mr Zarif visited Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, late last year in the wake of the historic deal that seeks to limit Iran’s nuclear programme in return for the easing of sanctions on the Islamic republic.
Iranian officials have said privately that attempts by Mr Zarif to visit Saudi Arabia in the wake of that deal were snubbed by Saudi officials.
The prospect of talks will raise hopes of a breakthrough similar to a bilateral security pact signed by Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2001. The deal ended decades of tensions that mounted after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s
Saudi Arabia moves to ease regional tensions with Iran - FT.com
Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi foreign minister, told a news conference in the capital Riyadh that he had invited his counterpart, Javad Zarif, “anytime he sees fit to come”.
“Our hope is that Iran becomes a part of the effort to make the region as safe as possible,” Mr al-Faisal said.
The invitation appeared to be an attempt to reconcile two states that sit on opposite sides of a regional sectarian divide that has widened during the unrest of the Arab spring.
Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran are involved in a series of proxy battles across the region, accusing each other of backing either violent sectarian groups or repressive governments from Syria and Lebanon to Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen.
Analysts said Saudi Arabia was mainly concerned about Iran’s backing for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which has recently made military gains in the Syrian civil war.
“Syria is number one on the agenda,” said Jamal Khashoggi, a leading Saudi commentator. “Syria is the manifestation of Iranian expansionism that Saudi is most worried about.”
Iran’s support for the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah is another major worry for Riyadh.
Tehran, meanwhile, is concerned that the Gulf states have been fomenting the extremist groups that have been fighting Damascus and destabilising neighbouring Iraq.
The invitation from Riyadh is thought to have been facilitated by Oman, Iran’s closest Arab ally. Mr Zarif visited Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, late last year in the wake of the historic deal that seeks to limit Iran’s nuclear programme in return for the easing of sanctions on the Islamic republic.
Iranian officials have said privately that attempts by Mr Zarif to visit Saudi Arabia in the wake of that deal were snubbed by Saudi officials.
The prospect of talks will raise hopes of a breakthrough similar to a bilateral security pact signed by Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2001. The deal ended decades of tensions that mounted after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s
Saudi Arabia moves to ease regional tensions with Iran - FT.com
