DUBAI – A Breakthrough has been reported in Saudi Arabia and Iran conflictin which Pakistan and Iraq had a background role to defuse tensions betweenthe two Muslim countries.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have taken steps towards indirect talks to defusetensions in the Middle East, with Riyadh asking Iraq and Pakistan to speakwith the Iranian leadership about de-escalation, according to the *New YorkTimes*.
In a report on Saturday, the Times said Saudi Arabia’s Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman (MBS) asked the leaders of Iraq and Pakistan tointervene in the wake of the attacks on two Saudi oil facilities onSeptember 14.
The United States and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for the attacks, whichknocked out five percent of the global crude supply, despite Yemen’s Houthirebels claiming responsibility for them.
But the New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump’s refusal toorder a military response “raised questions for the Saudis about theAmerican commitment to Saudi security, which has underpinned the strategiclayout of the Persian Gulf for decades”.
The US’s lack of action ‘prompted Saudi Arabia to seek its own solution tothe conflict,’ it added.
The Saudi government told the *New York Times* that Baghdad and Islamabadhad offered to mediate talks, but denied the move was at MBS’ request.
Tehran has meanwhile said it is open to hold talks with Riyadh.
“Iran is open to starting a dialogue with Saudi Arabia and other countriesin the region,” Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, told AlJazeera in an interview broadcast last week.
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“An Iranian-Saudi dialogue could solve many of the region’s security andpolitical problems,” he added. ‘I want to avoid war’
The New York Times, citing unnamed Iraqi and Pakistani officials, said MBSasked Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to mediate during a meeting inJeddah last month. Khan’s two-day visit ran from September 19 to 20.
The crown prince told Imran Khan: “I want to avoid war,” the seniorPakistani official told the Times.
Afterwards, Khan spoke to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelinesof the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). When Iraq’s Prime MinisterAdel Abdul Mahdi visited Jeddah on September 25, MBS made the same request,according to a senior Iraqi official who spoke to the Times on thecondition of anonymity.
The official said Iraq had suggested its capital, Baghdad, as the venue fora potential meeting between Saudi and Iranian leaders.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have taken opposing sides on various conflicts in theMiddle East, including the wars in Yemen and Syria. Riyadh has also backedTrump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, in which the US leaderimposed punishing sanctions against Tehran after Washington abandoned alandmark deal that curbed Tehran’s nuclear programme.
