China is planning to host a summit attended by senior officials from Iran and its six Arab neighbours of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Beijing later this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. The summit would take place after Iran and Saudi Arabia have completed the process of re-establishing diplomatic relations. Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly pitched the summit to GCC leaders during his visit to Saudi Arabia in December. If China succeeds in getting the GCC states and Iran in one room for dialogue, it would signal another diplomatic victory after Beijing hosted talks last week that led to an agreement on ending a seven-year rift between Tehran and Riyadh.
The two regional rivals agreed that their foreign ministers would meet within two months to reopen diplomatic missions and that the trilateral statement they signed with China committed them to implement two cooperation agreements they had signed over two decades earlier. Iran’s foreign ministry has said embassies that were closed in 2016 will soon be reopened in Tehran and Riyadh, while consulate generals will be re-established in Mashhad and Jeddah.
The WSJ reported that as part of the agreement, Saudi Arabia agreed to tone down negative coverage by Iran International, a Persian-language television channel that Tehran believes is funded by the Saudi state and considers a “terrorist” organisation. Iran International, which has repeatedly denied the charges of Saudi funding through its parent company Volant Media, last month moved its offices from London to Washington, DC citing threats to its staff. Meanwhile, Tehran has reportedly agreed to stop encouraging cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia from Yemen by the Houthi movement, which it supports in the country’s war against a Saudi-led coalition that backs the internationally recognised Yemeni government.
Experts have cautioned that while a rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh is a positive development that could help reduce tensions across the region, building on it could prove challenging as a considerable level of distrust persists between the regional powerhouses. For now, other stakeholders across the region have greeted the détente positively, while the US – which has been completely absent from the deal – has cautiously welcomed it.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reportedly welcomed China’s proposal for the summit, but his administration is pursuing stronger economic ties with Beijing while expecting China to play a bigger role in deadlocked talks over restoring Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which the US unilaterally abandoned in 2018. The foreign ministries of Iran, Saudi Arabia and China have not commented on the specifics of the agreement signed in Beijing or the report by the WSJ.
China’s diplomatic success in negotiating an agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia has paved the way for further dialogue between the two regional rivals. The proposed summit in Beijing later this year would be an unprecedented event attended by senior officials from Iran and its six Arab neighbours of the GCC. If China succeeds in bringing them together for dialogue, it would signal another diplomatic victory for Beijing. However, building on the recent rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh could prove challenging as a considerable level of distrust persists between the two regional powerhouses.