China invites Iran, GCC countries to host summit in Beijing this year

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
13 Mar 2023 08:47
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Iran and Saudi Arabia are due to reconvene within the next two months to close the deal, with agreed-upon details, according to WSJ, including Iran's discouragement of attacks on Saudi Arabia from the Yemenis and Saudi Arabia stopping media it funds from attacking Iran.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the China-Arab Summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh in December 2022 (AFP)

Citing unidentified sources, The Wall Street Journal reported that China’s president Xi Jinping sent an offer to Iran and Arab nations of the Gulf, or the nations of the GCC, to host a summit this year in China.

This comes in light of the recent revelation of the agreement for the restoration of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia last week. The original proposal, however, was made by Xi last December at a regional summit in Riyadh, during which he encouraged a meeting between Iran and GCC countries such as UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Per the Wall Street Journal, China already helped restore the ties between both nations behind the scenes on Friday in Beijing and did not resort to English as a medium of communication but used Arabic, Farsi and Mandarin instead.

According to WSJ, sources claimed that Iran and Saudi Arabia are due to reconvene within the next two months to close the deal, with agreed-upon details such as Iran's agreement to not support attacks on Saudi Arabia from the Yemenis and Saudi Arabia's agreement to stop criticizing Iran in the media.

The big picture

After seven years of strained ties, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations and re-open their embassies after a series of talks brokered in Beijing, China, under the auspices of Chinese President Xi Jinping last Friday.

According to the joint statement, "The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have agreed to resume diplomatic ties and reopen embassies and missions within two months of talks."

Moreover, Iran and Saudi Arabia said they "thank the Republic of Iraq and the Sultanate of Oman for hosting the talks held between the two sides in 2021 and 2022, as well as the leaders and government of the People's Republic of China for hosting and supporting the talks held in that country."

Diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia grew strained following Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh Nimr Baqir Al-Nimr in January 2016. Sheikh Al-Nimr was a vocal critic of the Saudi government.