Is Middle East moving towards stability?

The recent announcement that Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to restore diplomatic relations after a lapse of seven years and agreed to reactivate a 2001 security cooperation accord and an earlier pact on trade, economy and environment augurs well for the stability of the Middle East. If implemented faithfully it could be a turning point in the relations of the two most important Muslim countries with positive implications for the region. The credit for this diplomatic breakthrough goes primarily to the sagacious Chinese leader President Xi Jinping and his foreign minister who has been working behind the scenes with great subtlety in bringing the two countries to cooperate for the common good of their people.

It is a great victory for Chinese diplomacy and a reflection of the statesmanship and positive outlook as it knew that the entire dynamic of the Middle East could change with this development provided the agreement is implemented faithfully. More significantly, the ability of outside powers especially the US to manipulate events and promote discord among these countries for their warped objectives would be greatly reduced. It is amazing how America that has been the most influential and dominating player in the Middle East finds itself on the sidelines. Israel obviously, being an arch enemy of Iran and the major source of discord for its illegal occupation of Palestine, is greatly disturbed. Its efforts to get closer to Saudi Arabia to drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia and Iran thankfully have not worked and it finds itself at a loss. This accord has come at a time when Israeli atrocities on the Palestinians are at its peak. It is to be seen how it reacts to it overtly and covertly.

The detente between these two countries will bring relief to smaller Muslim nations in the region as they have been used by these two powers in pursuit of their ideological success and power play. In the process some of these countries have sharply divided communities on sectarian fault lines. There is the other school of thought that feels that these two major powers would be 'dividing up the region amongst themselves at the expense of the interest of smaller countries'. This view is essentially a reflection of frustration of those who were banking on differences and enmity among Ummah. What is good news that regional states Iraq and Yemen that enjoy good relations with both Iran and Saudi Arabia played a very useful role in facilitating the agreement.

...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT