Posted on 04/30/2022 7:44:35 AM PDT by FarCenter
An end to years of tension between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia is near, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi said in an interview published on Saturday.
Iraq, a neighbour to both countries, has hosted five rounds of talks over the past year aimed at restoring ties between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, and Shiite-majority Iran.
Following the latest round in Baghdad, Iraqi officials have sounded increasingly optimistic, talking of an imminent sixth session and even going so far as to raise the prospect of a resumption in diplomatic relations severed in 2016.
Iran and the Saudi kingdom support rival sides in several conflict zones across the region, including in Yemen where the Huthi rebels are backed by Tehran, and Riyadh leads a military coalition supporting the government.
In 2016, Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran after the kingdom executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Riyadh responded by cutting ties with Tehran.
"Our brothers in Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran approach the dialogue with a big responsibility as demanded by the current regional situation," Kadhemi said in his interview with the state-owned Al-Sabah newspaper.
"We are convinced that reconciliation is near," which would benefit regional stability, said Kadhemi, who Iraqi diplomats say attended the most recent meeting.
On Tuesday, the spokesman for Iraq's Foreign Ministry, Ahmed al-Sahaf, said the talks "are continuing... and could perhaps lead to a restoration of diplomatic representation between Iran and Saudi Arabia", state news agency INA reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
I don’t believe it.
The thing about Islam is the religion says it’s okay to lie if it gives you an advantage and ultimately allows you to kill your opponent. This makes any agreement, no matter how “solid” it is, worthless. What it tells you is whatever the speaker wants you to think is true. Then you have to figure out why they want you to think that.
I thought the Sunnis and Shiites were implacable foes. Can we believe this?
He's talkin' out his ass.
Wishful thinking
They have a lot more in common with each other than either group has with us. It would be like saying Baptists and Catholics are incompatible. Well, they might have their differences but those are NOTHING compared to their differences with Islam.
“I thought the Sunnis and Shiites were implacable foes”
With the exception of about a 5 or 6 year cooling period, Iran has been supporting Hamas (sunnis) for decades. They have cooperated with & supported sunni militant groups for decades, including AlQaeda. Never forget that they allowed transit of AlQaeda members thru Iran who were involved in 9/11.
“Can we believe this?”
Iran & Saudi Arabia had mostly friendly diplomatic relations for almost 50yrs, until 1979 when Khomeini took over. It’s been mostly adversarial since, with short periods of cooling of tensions. So, could this be another cooling period...possibly. But if it happens, I doubt it would last long at all.
Iran’s negative view of Saudi Arabia has been mostly political, rather than theological. Khomeini viewed Saudi Arabia as a lackey of the United States and the Zionists.
Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been cozying up to the Russians. Recall that Saudi officials wouldn't take Biden's phone call a couple of months ago when Biden was pleading for countries to pump more oil, the U.A.E. also snubbed him. That's a very significant slap in the face to ignore the U.S. president, a really bad sign for U.S./Saudi relations.
The Iranians are already in bed with the Russians. If Saudi joins them then U.S. influence in the Middle East is greatly reduced. Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE control a LOT of oil. That alliance will almost lock the U.S. out of the Middle East and like it or not, it's a very significant area to our national security.
This could be really bad.
It’s probably not so great for the Russians either.
If Saudi Arabia and Iran can solve their differences, it opens the door for cooperation between Saudi Arabia, Tukey, Iran and Pakistan.
This would be a 420 million population, nuclear-armed Muslim alliance with strong ties to Central Asia and the rest of the Middle East. If you include Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, that’s another 160 million
One more reason to add to the 2,750 reasons that our next president not be from the Democrat Party. AND that the US must restart fracking, extracting oil/gas from the lower 48 + Alaska, PLUS build the pipelines to where we need reliable energy.
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