Middle East
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud holds a press conference following the Jeddah summit on July 16, 2022. Photo: Amer Hilabi/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq plays an "important and fundamental" role in resolving tensions between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, the Saudi foreign minister said Saturday at a regional security and development summit in Jeddah.
"Iraq had an important and fundamental role in pushing the negotiations forward in a way that makes us able to continue with these talks," Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud said during the Jeddah Security and Development Summit, adding that Riyadh is committed to reaching an understanding with Tehran.
The top Saudi diplomat described the Riyadh-Tehran talks mediated by Baghdad as "positive, but have not reached the desired results," and affirmed that the Sunni kingdom looks at the prospect of easing tensions with the Islamic Republic favorably.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in late June visited both Saudi Arabia and Iran in a bid to restore ties between the Middle Eastern powerhouses, with Iran's president deeming his visit as a "turning point" in Iraq-Iran relations and Iran's foreign minister saying his side supports the idea of reopening embassies in both Tehran and Riyadh.
Baghdad has been key in mediating talks between the regional rivals and has hosted five rounds of talks between the two, with PM Kadhimi previously stating that Iraq has a "direct interest" in liaising talks between the countries in efforts to achieve regional stability.
Saud noted that the effort by Kadhimi to restore ties "is remarkable and we commend him."
The Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran have had rocky relations since 1979, when Shia revolutionaries came to power in Iran and pledged to export their revolution to the world, including Gulf countries.
Their relations deteriorated in 2016 when Iranian protestors attacked the Saudi diplomatic mission in Tehran in retaliation to the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
Riyadh responded by cutting ties with Tehran.
Al-Saud also rebutted claims of the formation of a possible regional security alliance between Israel and Arab states that would connect air defense systems to curb Iranian drone and missile attacks in the region, referring to it as the "Arab NATO."
"There is nothing known as the Arab NATO, and I do not know where this name came from, and the matter was not raised at the summit," he said.
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