(PatrioticPost.com)- On Monday, the governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia announced that their foreign ministers would convene during Ramadan. Iran and Saudi Arabia are hostile Islamic nations who just agreed, under the auspices of China, to reestablish their diplomatic ties.
Iran, the most prominent Shia Muslim nation, and Saudi Arabia, where the Sunni royal family guards Islam’s holiest sites, have been rivals for years. Their backing for opposing sides in the Yemeni civil war is the most visible manifestation of this rivalry. Because the Iranian authorities did nothing to stop Shia protesters from firebombing the Saudi embassy in Tehran in 2016, Saudi Arabia disengaged diplomacy with Iran and closed its embassy there.
During an intensive round of discussions in Beijing this month, the governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia declared they would recall their respective ambassadors and work to repair their deteriorating ties. In particular, following left-wing President Joseph Biden’s uncomfortable visit to Saudi Arabia last summer, the Chinese Communist Party, an ally of both, celebrated the action as a loss for the United States.
Before, news surfaced that Iran and Saudi Arabia were interested in joining the BRICS alliance. The name BRICS stands for five current members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. While essentially a business alliance, BRICS nations have provided significant political assistance to one another. Russia and China have insisted on BRICS’s expansion to counteract the dollar’s hegemony.
The Saudi government and the Iranian government have agreed to meet “during the ongoing month of Ramadan,” according to a report from the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Monday. The meeting will occur between Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
According to the Saudi news channel Al Arabiya, SPA said that Saudi Arabia and Iran “commit to preserve state sovereignty and not intervene in domestic issues.”
