The Chinese, who for years played a secondary role in the Middle East, suddenly became the new strong player, the publication writes
There is finally a peace settlement in the Middle East. Not between Israel and the Arabs, but between Saudi Arabia and Iran, who had been at each other’s throats for decades. And with the mediation not of the USA, but of China, writes The New York Times in a material presented without editorial intervention by “Focus”.
It is among the biggest and most transformative events anyone could have imagined, a change that has turned heads in capitals around the world. The alliances and rivalries that have governed diplomacy for generations have been turned upside down, at least for the time being.
The Americans, who have been the central actors in the Middle East for the past three-quarters of a century, have almost always been in the room where things happen. And now they find themselves on the sidelines at a time of significant change. The Chinese, who for years played only a secondary role in the region, suddenly became the new strong player. And the Israelis, who courted the Saudis against their common adversaries in Tehran, are now wondering what to do.
“There’s no way around it — it’s a big deal,” said Amy Hawthorne, deputy director of research at the Project on Middle East Democracy, a nonprofit group in Washington. “Yes, the United States could not make a deal like this right now with Iran , as we are not related. But in a broader sense, China’s prestigious achievement puts it in a higher diplomatic league and overshadows everything the US has been able to achieve in the region since Biden took office.”
President Biden’s White House has publicly welcomed the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran and expressed no apparent concern about Beijing’s role in bringing the two countries closer together. In private conversations, aides to Mr. Biden suggested that too much attention was being paid to the breach and scoffed at claims that it indicated some erosion of American influence in the region.
But it remains unclear, independent analysts say, how far the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran will actually go. After decades of sometimes bitter competition for leadership in the Middle East and the wider Islamic world, the decision to reopen embassies that were closed in 2016 represents only a first step.
This is not to say that the Sunnis of Riyadh and the Shias of Tehran have put aside all their deep and intuitive differences. Indeed, it is possible that this new ambassador exchange agreement may not even be implemented in the end, given that it was put on a cautious two-month timetable to hammer out the details.
Key to the deal, according to what the Saudis have told the Americans, is Iran’s commitment to halt further attacks on Saudi Arabia and limit support for armed groups that attack the kingdom. Iran and Saudi Arabia are effectively waging a devastating proxy war in Yemen, where Houthi rebels, backed by Tehran, have been fighting Saudi forces for eight years. The ceasefire, negotiated with the support of the United Nations and the Biden administration last year, has largely halted hostilities.
Early last year, the United Nations estimated that more than 377,000 people had died during the war from violence, starvation or disease. At the same time, the Houthis have fired hundreds of missiles and attack drones at Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has been seeking an end to hostilities with Iran for years, first through talks held in Baghdad that ultimately came to nothing. Biden administration officials say the Saudis have briefed them on the discussions in Beijing, but the Americans have expressed skepticism that Iran will follow through on its new commitments.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia who had strong ties to President Donald Trump and helped secure $2 billion in funding for the investment firm set up by Jared Kushner, the former president’s son-in-law, has been playing a tricky diplomatic game since he Biden came into office.
Biden once vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “rogue” state for masterminding the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post living in the United States. But he reluctantly agreed to visit the kingdom last year as he sought to reduce fuel prices, which were driven up in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Seeking to mend relations with the Saudis, Mr Biden has drawn fierce criticism for a highly publicized fistfight with the crown prince, who was blamed by the CIA for killing and dismembering Khashoggi.
But Mr. Biden and his team were furious when they said the Saudis later violated an unannounced agreement reached during that visit and curbed oil production last fall to keep fuel prices high. In that case, US officials believed Prince Mohammed was siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Mr Biden threatened unspecified “consequences” without formally imposing any.
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