Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed on Friday to resume diplomatic ties that have been severed for years, following Beijing-hosted talks which went on for four days.
The agreement paves the way for Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen their embassies and diplomatic missions within the coming two months. It also revives accords on security cooperation and trade and investment.
China was able to play broker between these two nations because it has maintained ties with both countries and purchases oil from both OPEC member states, despite U.S. sanctions on Iran. Iran’s president recently visited China. China also has strong relations with Saudi Arabia as its top buyer of oil.
The resumption of ties with Iran is a sign that China’s role in the region is growing.
Wang Yi, Beijing’s senior diplomat, characterized the deal as evidence that China is a stabilizing geopolitical force in the world.
“This is a victory for the dialogue, a victory for peace, and is major positive news for the world which is currently so turbulent and restive, and it sends a clear signal,” he said after announcing the agreement.
Yi also said that China plans to play a role in handling hotspot issues in the world going forward and criticized the West for a myopic view of foreign policy, saying “the world is not just limited to the Ukraine issue.”
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Comment:
This is huge news. HUGE! It transforms the geopolitical geometry of the middle east. It isolates Israel and the US to a great extent. It undermines US sanctions against Iran. Trade links will now be unblocked and this is another massive step to the creation of the alternative reserve currency to the US dollar.
Two of the biggest oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Iran have come together and are aligning increasingly with the Chinese, and to a lesser extent the Russians as well.
The deal of the decade brokered by China. This is a game changer. An entire region has broken away from the United States. China has become a world leader, a global leader. China seized the initiative and established itself as the successor of the United States. This is the moment the unipolar world of US hegemony ended, its over. And the era of China has begun.
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