Iran has reopened their embassy in Saudi Arabia.

 

 

The Iranian Embassy in Saudi Arabia. BBC/Reuters.

Iran has reopened their embassy in Saudi Arabia in a major sign of warming relations between the two former rivals. BBC. The move comes three months after both countries signed a deal that was brokered by China. The Saudis plan to reopen their embassy in Iran soon as well. Iran and Saudi Arabia were major regional rivals and were locked in proxy wars across the Middle East, including Syria and Yemen. Iran's deputy Prime Minster said that the two countries were "entering a new era".

My Comment:

This story is largely being ignored but it is in actuality a huge deal and major sign of the waning influence America has in the region. This would have been unthinkable even a few months ago but then China swooped in and brokered this deal. 

Keep in mind that the proxy conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia was one of the worst conflicts in the world. It was mostly concentrated in Yemen and it was a conflict that had the real possibility of spiraling out into a major conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Indeed, Iran's Houthi rebel proxies were regularly launching ballistic missiles and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia proper. 

Now? There is a real hope of the war in Yemen ending. It was always a proxy war so it shouldn't be hard for the Saudi and Iranian led factions to come to some kind of deal. Neither side has any reason to keep the war going now that they have normalized relations. Given how horrible that conflict has been it's a real accomplishment for both sides to end it. 

There are of course two huge losers because of this. Israel is probably the biggest one. Under Trump they were able to normalize relations throughout the Arab world but all of that is in jepordy now. The Gulf States mostly normalized relations because they needed allies against Iran. With that being largely irrelevant now, Israel has little power and could lose their new relationships. Their hopes of toppling the Iranian regime are pretty much gone. 

Speaking of people hoping to topple the Iranian regime, the neocons in the US government, including Biden himself, are going to be very disappointed again. Relations with Saudi Arabia are at rock bottom thanks to Biden insanely deciding that a long alliance with a critical military and economic partner was not anywhere near as important as the life of a stupid Washington Post "journalist" Jamal Khashoggi. Having the Saudis being so upset over Biden and his administration that they ran into the arms of an American enemy is quite a feather in Biden's bonnet...