Saudi-Iran Agreement Is Less Than Meets the Eye
The Chinese-brokered deal will have limited practical impact as long as uncertainties about the Yemen conflict and Tehran’s nuclear ambitions loom.
Friends again?
Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The image is calculated to impress. At a media event in Beijing, China’s top diplomat mugs for the cameras, as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and Saudi Arabia’s national security adviser shake hands. With Chinese encouragement, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s oldest rivals, agreed to resume diplomatic relations.
The underlying message is calculated to surprise: China, long reluctant to involve itself in other people’s problems, is finally prepared to take on the peacemaking responsibilities of a world power. Diving directly into the diplomatic deep end, Beijing is tackling one of the world’s most intractable enmities.