SAUDI ARABIA - IRAN RELATIONSHIP – INTERNATIONAL
News: Saudi
Arabia, Iran to renew ties: What it means for the world
What's in the news?
● Saudi
Arabia and Iran have announced the restoration of diplomatic ties after four
days of previously undisclosed talks in Beijing.
About the normalization deal:
● Two
countries agree to revive their 2016 agreement.
Important provisions in the deal:
● Both
countries plan to reopen their embassies
in Riyadh and Tehran in two months.
● Both
countries will respect the sovereignty of other countries and not get involved
in each other's business.
● For
example, Saudi Arabia agreed to rein in Iran International, a satellite news
channel.
● On
the other hand, Iran has agreed to curb cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia by
Houthi rebels in Yemen.
● Agreed
to implement a security cooperation
agreement signed in 2001 and a general economic,
trade, and investment agreement signed in 1998.
● Apart
from these measures, both countries will also get together to work out the
details of the peace deal.
● China
will organise a conference between Iran and the six Gulf monarchies to help
maintain peace in the region.
Differences between two countries:
Political influence:
● Both
Iran and Saudi Arabia are major powers
in the Middle East and have sought to increase their political influence in
the region.
● This
has led to competition and conflicts
over issues such as control of oil resources, support for different political
factions and proxy wars in countries like Yemen, Syria and Iraq.
Religious difference:
● The
rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran is rooted in Islamic sectarianism.
● While
Iran is the foremost Shia state in the world, Saudi Arabia is considered to be the
religious home of Sunni Islam.
The assassination of a famous Saudi journalist:
● The
killing of a Saudi journalist and dissident in 2018 was allegedly carried out
by Saudi agents. This has further soured relations between the two countries.
Iran has condemned the killing and accused Saudi Arabia of human rights abuses.
Saudi's concern about the Iran's nuclear program:
● The
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA), a nuclear agreement with Iran, needs to be revived and
renegotiated to ease sanctions and address concerns about Iran’s nuclear
program. However, domestic politics in the US and Israel could pose challenges
to this process.
Significance of the deal:
1. To Saudi Arabia:
● Path to multiple
alignment:
○ It
has also led to Saudi Arabia slowly moving away from the singular influence of
the United States in its foreign policy.
○ This
deal will lead to the multipolar world
and reduce the hegemony of the single country.
● Vision 2030 of Saudi
Arabia:
○ "Vision
2030” plan calls for diversifying the
oil-dependent economy by attracting tourism and foreign investment, drawing
millions of expatriates to the kingdom and turning it into a global hub for
business and culture.
○ It
needs a lot of cooperation with neighbouring countries such as Iran, Iraq, and
other countries.
2. To the west Asia region:
● Regional peace:
○ Regional
peace will be crucial to turning Saudi Arabia into the global hub that “Vision
2030” envisions.
○ This
has led to Saudi Arabia making concerted efforts to end long-standing
conflicts/rivalries with powers across the region – with the Iran deal the
latest such move.
● Reducing human rights
violations:
○ Human
rights violation: In Yemen, Saudi
bombs aimed at reversing gains by Iranian-backed rebels have killed large
numbers of civilians.
○ A
December 2020 UN report said that since 2015 the “war caused an estimated
233,000 deaths, including 131,000 from indirect causes such as lack of food,
health services and infrastructure”.
3. To Iran:
● Revival of economy:
○ Iran’s
economy is deteriorating and its currency, the rial, is struggling. A deal with
Saudi Arabia, under China’s mediation, could open economic lifelines for Iran.
● Iran's nuclear program:
○ For
Iran, the agreement comes as it accelerates its nuclear program after two years
of failed U.S. attempts to revive a 2015 deal that aimed to stop Tehran from
producing a nuclear bomb.
○ Finding
allies in the region is of utmost importance to Iran when the Khomeini regime
is perhaps at its weakest since the revolution.
4. To China:
● Increasing the role of
China in the region:
○ China’s role as peace
broker is yet another sign of changing currents
in the region. China has historically maintained ties with both countries and
the latest deal points to China’s growing political and economic clout in the
region.
○ China wants stability in
the region, since they get more than 40 percent of
their energy from the Gulf, and tension between the two (Iran and Saudi Arabia)
threatens their interests.
● China “quasi-mediation
diplomacy”:
○ China
has signaled a shift in its approach towards the Middle East. It is moving away
from hard security concerns towards “quasi-mediation diplomacy”.
○ The
strategy aims to promote China’s
commercial, diplomatic and political interests. The recent Saudi-Iran
accord is the first manifestation of this approach, reducing regional tensions
and paving the way for further dialogue.
5. To the world:
● Global energy markets:
○ Saudi
Arabia and Iran are two of the world’s largest oil-producing nations, and their
relationship impacts global energy
markets. Any agreement between the two nations could affect the price of
oil and gas globally.
● Good for Afghanistan:
○ This
deal will lead to the successful completion of the Chabahar-Helmand-Kabul-Termez railway line which will open the vast
and resource-rich Central Asian region to the Global South.
6. Roadblocks to the deal:
● Sectarian tension:
○ One
of the major roadblocks to a true thaw in relationships is the underlying sectarian tension between Shias and Sunnis.
A diplomatic deal does little to change this.
● Regional tension:
○ There
are specific geopolitical questions which have not been directly addressed.
○ For
instance, in both the wars in Yemen and
Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia find themselves on opposite sides, these
conflicts will continue to fuel antagonism between the two countries.
● Saudi Arabia 's closeness
with USA:
○ Iran
is highly critical of Saudi Arabia’s closeness with the United States.
○ The
US has crippled Iranian economy with its
sanctions regime for decades.
● Iran's state sponsored
terrorism:
○ Saudi
Arabia is very aware of the large network of armed militias across West Asia
that Iran funds and backs, seeing them as a threat to its own sovereignty as
well as the regional balance of power.
7. Implications on India:
a. Energy security:
● India
is one of the biggest oil consumers in the world. Most of the oil imports come
from the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia and Iran.
● The
Saudi-Iran peace deal could help reduce
tensions in the region and could lead to a more stable oil market. This
will be good for India’s energy security.
b. Regional stability:
● The
normalization of relations between these two countries could lead to a
reduction in tensions and potentially help resolve some of the conflicts in the
region.
● This
would be beneficial for India as it has a significant interest in maintaining
regional stability. For example, India supports for International North-South
Transport Corridor (INSTC), and Iran
is also part of India’s extended neighbourhood.
c. China angle:
● India
may face difficulties as a result of China’s
efforts to mediate tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
d. Trade:
● Both
Iran and Saudi Arabia are important
trading partners for India. Normalising ties between them could open up new avenues for trade and investment,
leading to increased economic opportunities for India.
e. Geopolitics:
● India
has good relations with both Saudi Arabia and Iran and has been trying to
maintain a balance between the two countries.
● The
normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran could change the dynamics of the region, and
India will need to navigate the new realities to maintain its interests in the
region.