China: Saudi-Iran Deal Driving Wave of Reconciliation

By Staff, Agencies

The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, stressed that a Chinese-mediated detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia was driving a “wave of reconciliation” in the Middle East and pledged to firmly support Tehran on “issues concerning core interests”.

Wang Yi made the comments during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.

Wang told Amir-Abdollahian that Beijing appreciated Iran’s recent steps to improve ties with Saudi Arabia, including his meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah.

Wang also pledged to “continue to support countries in the Middle East in exploring a development path that suits their own national conditions, strengthening communication and dialogue, adhering to unity and self-improvement, and realizing good-neighborliness and friendship”, Xinhua said.

The detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia, brokered by China in March, followed years of bitter rivalry that had destabilized several Middle Eastern countries, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Bahrain.

Officials in Tehran and Riyadh have said the two countries’ deteriorating relations with the United States was one of the main reasons for their shift in policy.