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Saudi cabinet hopes dialogue with Iran will continue

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
14 Mar 2023 23:32

Saudi ministers discuss the current agreement with Iran, which was established in response to a Chinese President Xi Jinping proposal.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chairing a meeting held in Riyadh (AFP)

The Saudi leadership expressed hope that the positive discussion with Iran will continue in light of the Chinese-sponsored agreement which was struck last week.

The Saudi cabinet headed by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired a meeting that was held in Riyadh during which they reviewed the agreement, which was reached in response to an initiative by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The cabinet also aspired that the agreement will benefit Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the region, as well as help to maintain regional and international peace and security.

Iran-Saudi agreement 'political earthquake': Iranian advisor

Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the advisor to the Iranian leader for military affairs, described the Iranian-Saudi agreement as "a political earthquake" that signals "the end of US hegemony in the region."

"The post-US phase has started in the Gulf region with the Iranian-Saudi agreement," he tersely stated.

Safavi voiced hope that the region will progress toward long-term security and peace as a result of the Iran-Saudi agreement, emphasizing that the strength of the US and Zionists is dwindling.

“In my opinion, the agreement is in the interests of the two countries and the Western Asia region," he said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he acknowledged that “the Chinese have decided to become the world’s first economy by 2030," affirming that the agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, under Chinese meditation, "dealt the second biggest blow to the US by China."

"This is because Saudi Arabia is China's largest supplier of oil, and on the other hand, China’s strategic partnership agreement with Iran to invest in the development of our infrastructure was a great agreement,” he concluded.

Simultaneously, several Arab countries reflected their views on the re-establishment of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia most notably the UAE, Egypt, and Qatar. The countries touched on the subject by expressing hope for the future.

On his part, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, as quoted by an Iranian National Assembly-affiliated news agency, that Tehran-Riyadh's recent agreement showcases that the chief cause of the debacle in the region was the intervention of foreign powers.

He also contended that restoring relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia can have a favorable impact on the two countries' level of cooperation.

"The prerequisite for realizing the development of cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia is to observe good neighborliness and establish mutual trust," he added.