Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler on Monday called on Israel to respect Iran’s sovereignty and refrain from attacking Iranian soil, highlighting warming ties between the Middle East rivals.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders that the international community should oblige Israel “to respect the sovereignty of the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran and not to violate its lands”.
Sunni Muslim-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran have often found themselves on opposing sides of regional conflicts including Syria’s.
In 2015 Saudi Arabia mobilised a military coalition to support Yemen’s internationally recognised government after Iran-backed Huthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa and advanced toward the main southern city of Aden.
Following attacks on Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran during demonstrations against Riyadh’s death of Shiite preacher Nimr al-Nimr, the two countries broke their ties the following year.
However, they announced a reconciliation agreement mediated by China in March 2023.
Even though there are still problems in the complicated relationship, Prince Mohammed’s rapprochement is a notable diplomatic accomplishment because he has recently adopted a more accommodative stance in regional diplomacy.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have maintained high-level contact as part of efforts to contain the war that broke out in Gaza following Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year.
This diplomatic outreach led to the first phone call between Prince Mohammed and Iran’s then-president Ebrahim Raisi — just five days after the war broke out — and a visit by Raisi to Riyadh a year ago for a joint summit of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
In October, Saudi Arabia announced it had held war games with Iran and other countries in the Sea of Oman.
On Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s top military official, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials.
Prince Mohammed and Iran’s current president, Masoud Pezeshkian, spoke by phone on Sunday ahead of Monday’s summit, which is a follow-up to the gathering in November 2023. Pezeshkian is not attending because of pressing “executive matters”, an Iranian government statement said, and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref travelled to Riyadh instead.
The Gaza war and subsequent fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah raised fears of even wider conflagration. Iran this year twice fired missiles at Israel, prompting Israeli retaliation, most recently on October 26 when it hit Iranian military facilities.
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