Aiham Kamil, the head of the Middle East and North Africa research team at the Eurasia Group, has been calling this conversation going on since January.
Saudi Arabia-Iran (nominal photo)
The conflict between Israel and Palestine in the Middle East is being watched by the world. But recently another big incident happened here, which did not get much attention from the world. In fact, relations between the two hardcore countries of Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia are improving once again in the Middle East. Iran officially stated on May 10 that its talks with Saudi Arabia were going on. The rivalry between the two countries has been going on for the last four decades, which is also seen as a new cold war.
According to the BBC report, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been seen supporting their groups in the ongoing civil war in Yemen, Lebanon and Syria. This conversation, which has been taking place since January, has been described by Aiham Kamil, the head of the Middle East and North Africa research team at the Eurasia Group. Earlier, the Financial Times newspaper said in a report that the two countries met in Baghdad to improve relations. But Saudi Arabia rejected this news. Then a few weeks later Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that he wanted to restore relations with Iran.
When the Crown Prince made a controversial statement about Khamnai
The world was shocked by the statement of Mohammed bin Salman, because till now only the conspiracies were seen between the two countries. At the same time, this statement of the Crown Prince was also surprising because on three years he himself said that Hitler also looks like a good person in front of Iran’s supreme religious leader Immanollah Ali Khamenei. In such a situation, the question is starting to arise that what is the reason for this change between Saudi Arabia and Iran? Let us know what are the reasons, because of which two opposing countries are being forced to sit together and hold talks.
US policy changes
After becoming President of the US, Joe Biden made it clear that he was about to change his policy regarding the Middle East. Biden’s emphasis is on reducing American presence in the Middle East. President Biden is seen doing so. He has stamped out the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. In addition, Yemen has backed out of the war and negotiations on the nuclear deal have begun. It is believed that Biden has formulated his new policy regarding Iran, due to which there has been a change in the attitude of Saudi Arabia. Biden is less aggressive about Iran and that is why Saudi Arabia is now considering an alternative strategy for the regional situation.
Threat from Israeli coalition
After the nuclear deal, economic sanctions will be lifted from Iran. It also needs to be with Saudi Arabia for this to happen. But the biggest reason is that Iran is afraid that the way Sunni Arab countries like UAE, Qatar are normalizing relations with Israel. Because of this, a big coalition may not be formed against him. Iran’s intention is to prevent this from happening. In such a situation, it is believed that Iran wants to stop him from forming such an alliance after discussing with Saudi Arabia. The ongoing violence in Gaza has also helped Iran in this, because now an atmosphere has been created against Israel.
Costly ‘struggle’ is also a reason
Iran and Saudi Arabia are fighting a war behind the scenes in many countries of the Gulf. This includes ongoing conflicts in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Due to this indirect fight between the two, a lot of money is spent. In 2018, David Adesnik, principal analyst of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank, said that the two countries spend around $ 1500–200 billion on their groups. Iran is facing economic sanctions, so this amount is too much for it. On the other hand, due to the dispute with Iran, Saudi Arabia has to divert a lot of money from its other resources and put it on defense.
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