Alireza Enayati will be Iran’s next ambassador to Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday May 24, Tehran appointed this diplomat, connoisseur of the Gulf, to reopen its diplomatic mission in Riyadh, after seven years of diplomatic rupture between the two countries. This is a new step in the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, sealed in Beijing on March 10.
With our special correspondent in Riyadh, Guilhem Delteil
For two and a half months, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been working to their rapprochement. After the signing of the beijing agreement and the meeting in the Chinese capital of the foreign ministers of the two countries, delegations had gone to the capitals to study the reopening of diplomatic missions.
The appointment of ambassadors was the next step. It should allow the preparation of visits by the leaders of the two countries. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been invited to Riyadh and King Salman of Saudi Arabia to Tehran. But the reopening of an Iranian diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia should also allow Iranians to come to Mecca for the Haj pilgrimage at the end of June.
In recent months, Riyadh has embarked on a rapprochement with his rivals or enemies of yesterday : Iran, Syria, Houthi rebels in Yemen. The kingdom seeks to ease regional tensions. It needs stability to carry out its major internal modernization projects. But for this appeasement to be lasting, concrete actions will be needed on the issues that oppose the two countries.