{"id":897,"date":"2017-10-26T12:36:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T12:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=897"},"modified":"2017-10-26T12:36:08","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T12:36:08","slug":"iran-vs-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2017\/10\/26\/iran-vs-saudi-arabia\/","title":{"rendered":"iran vs saudi arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent warming of ties between Saudi Arabia and\u00a0Iraq<\/a>\u00a0could signal a move away from Iran’s influence over Baghdad, analysts say, but with\u00a0Prime Minister\u00a0Haider al-Abadi<\/a>\u00a0arriving on Wednesday in Tehran, that remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

On Sunday,\u00a0Saudi Arabia<\/a>\u00a0and Iraq inaugurated a coordination committee and signed a number of agreements.\u00a0The developments come after years of tension between Saudi Arabia and Iraq.<\/p>\n

Al-Abadi visited Riyadh for the second time in four months, as part of a regional tour that also included stops in\u00a0Egypt<\/a>\u00a0and Jordan.<\/p>\n

In a statement addressing the inauguration of the committee, King Salman of Saudi Arabia said the body presents the two countries with a “historic opportunity to build an effective partnership to achieve common aspirations”.<\/p>\n

The coordination committee includes a range of political, security, economic, trade and development deals.<\/p>\n

As part of the agreements, Saudi Arabia will open a consulate in Iraq, relaunch airline flights between the two countries, open the border, and jointly develop ports and highways.<\/p>\n

The two nations also agreed to allow Saudi investment in Iraq, study a trade exchange area, and review customs cooperation agreements.<\/p>\n

For his part, al-Abadi expressed his optimism and “deep satisfaction” with the recent developments between the neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

What has changed?<\/h2>\n

Since the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s government in 2003\u00a0during the US-led invasion,\u00a0Iran<\/a>\u00a0has advanced its influence in Baghdad.<\/p>\n

Iran has helped Iraq in the fight against\u00a0ISIL<\/a>\u00a0(also known as ISIS) while supporting powerful Shia militias in the country.<\/p>\n

The fallout in Saudi-Iraqi relations began after Iraq’s invasion of\u00a0Kuwait<\/a>\u00a0in 1990. Following the demise of Hussein’s regime, incoming Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s administration in Baghdad did not offer much optimism to solve the myriad of post-war problems.<\/p>\n

Since 1990, Saudi Arabia has had its embassy in Iraq shut down and borders closed.<\/p>\n

However, the first signs of easing tensions between the two countries started in 2015 when Saudi Arabia reopened its embassy in Iraq.<\/p>\n

In February, Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, visited Baghdad marking the first visit by a Saudi foreign minister to the Iraqi capital in almost 27 years.<\/p>\n

“Abadi’s tenure has contrasted somewhat starkly with that of Maliki, who was a much more divisive figure, populist, and sectarian in his outlook and rhetoric,”\u00a0Ranj Alaaldin, a visiting fellow at Brookings Doha Center, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

“Since the arrival of Abadi, Iraq has been presented with an opportunity to open a new chapter with the region.”<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

Iran challenged<\/h2>\n

With Iraqi elections coming up less than a year from now, Saudi Arabia is attempting to establish new alliances in Iraq to ensure its interests and relations with Baghdad remain secure, according to analysts.<\/p>\n

One of the goals is to “sideline and challenge Iran’s alliances in Baghdad”, Alaaldin said.<\/p>\n

“The US backs Abadi and sees him as a counterweight against Iran-alliances – including Maliki and Shia militia groups that aligned with Iran,” he said.<\/p>\n

Another common interest between Saudi Arabia and al-Abadi’s government is to “reconstruct and rehabilitate Arab Sunni cities in northern Iraq – financially and politically”, Alaaldin said, in order to enhance Arab-Sunni political participation with elections around the corner.<\/p>\n

In July, Iraq’s nationalist Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr made a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah, where he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.<\/p>\n

‘Balanced approach’<\/h2>\n

How effective the Saudis can be in containing Iran’s influence in Iraq remains unclear.<\/p>\n

Marwan Kabalan, an associate political analyst at the Doha Institute, said it is unknown if the Saudis can succeed “given their poor foreign policy performance vis-a-vis Iran”.<\/p>\n

Al-Abadi will maintain a “balanced” approach in his regional relations, he said, with the Iraqi prime minister arriving in Tehran for talks on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“[al-Abadi] would most probably assure the Iranians that his visit to Saudi Arabia is not against them,” Kabalan told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

“All he is trying to do is to invite much [needed] investment money to rebuild Iraq’s destroyed cities, something the Iranians cannot offer. This is important especially for his Shia base of support, which is very sceptical about Saudi Arabia.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent warming of ties between Saudi Arabia and\u00a0Iraq\u00a0could signal a move away from Iran’s influence over Baghdad, analysts say, but with\u00a0Prime Minister\u00a0Haider al-Abadi\u00a0arriving on Wednesday in Tehran, that remains to be seen. On Sunday,\u00a0Saudi Arabia\u00a0and Iraq inaugurated a coordination committee and signed a number of agreements.\u00a0The developments come after years of tension between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Al-Abadi visited… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":898,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions\/898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}