Iran, Saudi Arabia discuss expanding agricultural and environmental ties
After years of fraught relations, Iran and Saudi Arabia are considering joint projects in agriculture and natural resources, an Iranian minister said.
At the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP16) in Riyadh, Iran’s Minister of Agriculture, Gholamreza Nouri, outlined progress made during bilateral talks.
"We laid the groundwork for developing infrastructure in natural resources, the environment, and agriculture between Iran and Saudi Arabia," Nouri said.
His remarks mark a significant development in the rapprochement fostered by the 2023 China-brokered agreement between the two nations.
Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran was stormed during a dispute over Riyadh's execution of a Shiite Muslim cleric.
Tensions escalated further with subsequent conflicts, including missile and drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities and tankers in the Persian Gulf, attributed to Iran-backed Houthi forces, amidst a nearly decade-long war.
Saudi-Iranian relations have improved following the Beijing Agreement, with both countries exploring areas of mutual interest. Yet, trade between the two remains limited. Iranian officials have expressed an ambition to boost bilateral trade to $1 billion annually, a stark contrast to the negligible trade volumes recorded in recent years.
Flights resume amid warming relations
In a further sign of thawing ties, Iran Air resumed flights between Mashhad and Dammam after a nine-year hiatus.
"A deputy from Iran’s embassy, the representative of Iran Air, and representatives from Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation welcomed arriving passengers in Dammam and stressed the need to facilitate the movement of people between the two countries," ISNA said.
While economic and environmental collaboration are key goals, the rekindling of relations is also part of a broader geopolitical calculus, Saudi and its Persian Gulf neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, working on backdoor diplomacy to reduce the military actions of Iran in the region and curtail its allies across the area.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the de facto Saudi ruler, made an offer of increased trade to Iranian officials in recent weeks in the hope of ratcheting down tension with the West.
Despite progress, challenges remain since the rekindled ties between the two countries, including the ongoing Yemeni Houthis' blockade of the Red Sea region since the war in Gaza.
David Ottaway from the Wilson Centre wrote in March that at an emergency summit of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Arab League held in Riyadh on November 12 last year, Saudi Arabia managed to quash Iranian efforts to mobilize military support for Hamas in its war with Israel.
The meeting also managed to stall pressure on the six Arab states that now have diplomatic ties with the Jewish state—Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco—to cut them. After the Gaza war, talks to normalize relations between Saudi and Israel which progressed into the public domain, have also been stalled, a move which will please Tehran.
Iran's former President Ebrahim Raisi and bin Salman (MBS) met during the summit to discuss various possible areas for cooperation, including Saudi investment in Iran’s sanctions-hobbled economy.
It was here that bin Salman allegedly warned Raisi that Iran "would have to rein in the activities of its regional Arab allies and proxies as the quid pro quo for any Saudi financial or economic aid", Ottaway said.