Ex-rivals Iran, Saudi Arabia hail BRICS expansion

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
24 Aug 2023 15:45
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Saudi Arabia has expressed a desire to hold a summit with the BRICS members to discuss furthering cooperation.

From left to right, Brazil President Luis Ignacio da Silva, China President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (AP)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Thursday that the expansion of BRICS shows that the Western policy of unilateralism is on the decline.

The remarks come after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced earlier today that the BRICS leadership has decided to invite Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia to join the organization.

"BRICS expansion shows that unilateralism is on the decline," Raisi said at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.

Saudi Arabia has on the other hand expressed a desire to hold a summit with the BRICS members to discuss furthering cooperation, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said on Thursday.

"The Kingdom maintains strategic relations with the BRICS countries. We look forward to holding a general meeting with the BRICS countries to discuss ways of cooperation in various fields," bin Farhan said at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

Under the auspices of China, both Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations on March 10. The two countries had their ties severed in 2016 following Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh Nimr Baqir Al-Nimr.

The agreement to officially restore diplomatic ties was signed at a ceremony on April 6 in Beijing.

The two countries have already resumed direct flights and reopened their embassies. The collective West has been set back by the China-sponsored peace.

Its "rules-based" world order hangs by a thread, while the US dollar supremacy wanes.

The blow was hard for Netanyahu, who just a month prior to the Iran-Saudi deal said that "Israel" and Saudi Arabia were planning to join forces on the basis of a common goal of stopping Iran.

While the US failed to fulfill its security commitments towards Saudi Arabia, the country decided to maneuver into a position backed by Chinese guarantees of security.