Syria's Top Diplomat Visits Saudi Arabia Amid Thaw In Relations

The move comes over two years after an Arab boycott of Qatar was lifted.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt in January 2021 ended a 3-1/2-year embargo of Qatar but all but Bahrain restored travel and trade links in 2021.

On Wednesday, the Bahraini-Qatari Follow-up Committee held its second meeting at the headquarters of the GCC General Secretariat in the Saudi capital where the decision was made, the two countries said in separate statements.

In January, Bahrain's crown prince spoke with Qatar's emir by telephone, in a sign the two Gulf states were moving towards repairing relations.

The row that led the quartet to cut all ties with Qatar in 2017 centered around its support for Islamist movements deemed a threat by Arab neighbors and its ties with Shi'ite Muslim power Iran and Turkey.

The four states also had their own disagreements with Qatar.

Regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia has led efforts to rebuild ties with Qatar and, along with Egypt, re-established diplomatic relations.

Bahrain, a Sunni Muslim-ruled monarchy with a restive Shi'ite population, has deep unease over Qatar's relations with Iran. Bahrain also has territorial disputes with Qatar.

Recent restoration of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran signaled a new policy by the leader of Persian Gulf Sunni Arab states for closer regional ties.

Reuters report

In a phone call on Wednesday, the two sides exchanged views on the development of bilateral cooperation in various fields, as well as the state of Iran’s nuclear talks with the West, Mehr news agency reported.

Amir-Abdollahian noted that Iran always considers diplomacy and negotiation as a way to resolve regional and global challenges.

Nuclear talks that began in April 2021 reached a deadlock last September, with the United States blaming Iran for unreasonable demands.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, he claimed the Islamic Republic is opposed to the war.

Iran has been supplying suicide drones and possibly other weapons to Russia, angering NATO countries.

Moscow began using the Kamikaze drones against Ukraine in early October, forcing Washington to finally say that the nuclear talks had reached an impasse.

For his part, the Japanese minister called ties between Tehran and Tokyo very important, expressing his country's stance on the process of the nuclear negotiations.

In the days leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, negotiators in the nuclear talks were scrambling to reach the finish line, promising to successfully conclude a diplomatic process that had lasted eleven months.

Director General of Iran's Foreign Ministry Office for Persian Gulf Affairs, Alireza Enayati, said the resumption of flights to and from Iran are also on the agenda of the discussions.

The visit follows a delegation to Tehran this week as Saudi officials also assessed the technicalities of reopening its embassy and consulate.

It has been a busy week for the two countries as they repair diplomatic relations following a detente brokered by Beijing in March after seven years of hostility.

The agreement the two countries reached in March with Chinese mediation foresaw full diplomatic relations being restored in two months. So far contacts and discussions seem to continue on track.

The Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday reviewed the latest developments related to the implementation of the agreement between Riyadh and Tehran to resume diplomatic relations.

Foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing on Thursday for the first formal gathering of their top diplomats in more than seven years.

As regional tensions escalate, including attacks on US and facilities in Syria and rockets launched from both Lebanon and Syria by Iranian proxies into Israel, activities in Syria are ramping up.

The fact that humanitarian relief is not subject to sanctions, makes it all the more easy for Iran to capitalize on the catastrophe, in the region where Tehran’s influence has been on the rise since it began supporting Assad in the civil war that began in 2011.

Syria has become a key battleground between Iran and its enemies, as Iran buttresses the threat from Israel and strengthens the Assad regime. Strikes in recent weeks from Israel have seen key Iranian military figures killed from the Revolutionary Guards and Quds Force, including targeting weapons factories and infrastructure in Iran.

Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, has carried out hundreds of strikes in government-controlled parts of that country in recent years, though it rarely acknowledges them.

Before the latest strikes which came in retaliation for rockets launched into the Golan Heights, Syrian officials had attributed 10 attacks to Israel this year, some of which put the Damascus and Aleppo airports temporarily out of service and killed civilians as well as Syrian soldiers and Iranian military advisers.

Israel said artillery and drone strikes last weekend hit rocket launchers in Syria and were followed by airstrikes against a Syrian army compound, military radar systems and artillery posts.

Since the February 6 earthquake in northern Syria and Turkey, hundreds of flights from Iran have been landing in Syria's Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia airports bringing supplies. It has opened the door for Iran to build back after a series of strikes from Israel have targeted the likes of munitions factories.

The supplies being smuggled alongside relief goods have, according to intelligence, included advanced communications equipment and radar batteries and spare parts required for a planned upgrade of Syria's Iran-provided air defence system in its civil war.

While Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York said the allegations are untrue, Israel has stepped up efforts to counter the activity, with multiple attacks on airports in the last six months with most aid delivered to Aleppo airport, a major focus of the strikes.

Speaking to Reuters, Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser, a former head of research in the Israel army as well as ex-general director of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs said Israeli air strikes against the shipments relied on intelligence so specific that Israel's military knew which truck in a long convoy to target.

Quds Force is leading the efforts, Unit 18000 Syrian division organising shipments along with the foreign espionage and paramilitary arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, led by Hassan Mehdoui (Mahdavi).

Ground transportation was handled by the Quds Force's Transport Unit 190 led by Bahanem Shahariri (Behnam Shahriari), according to intelligence sources speaking to Reuters.

"Israel's strikes also targeted a meeting of commanders of Iranian militias and shipments of electronic chips to upgrade weapons systems," said Syrian military defector Colonel Abduljabbar Akaidi, who retains army contacts. Akaidi did not say where the meeting was held.

Speaking to Reuters, a Syrian army officer who asked not to be named said the Israelis “have information that something is being developed quickly”. The quake created the right conditions and the chaos that ensued allowed Iranian jets to land with ease.

More recently, Israeli strikes have focused on the like of weapons warehouses in the Jabal Manea Kiswa mountain range south of Damascus where Iranian troops and Lebanon's Hezbollah have built what is probably their most fortified military site in Syria.

It is no coincidence, that with Syria being in Iran’s pocket, major regional players are trying to bring Assad in from the cold. From the UAE to Tunisia, diplomatic channels are opening up for the Syrian dictator, which may signal the region’s growing concerns about Syria being Iran’s lapdog.

This also works for Iran. As relations begin to thaw with countries including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, perhaps the region is waking up to the fact that intervention is the only form of prevention of an escalation which is showing no signs of waning.

Iran's deputy minister of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts, Ali Asghar Shalbafian, made the announcement on Tuesday in a meeting with a number of Chinese tourism delegates.

He said the move aimed to promote tourism between the two nations.

The Chinese delegation traveled to Iran as part of a familiarization tour and met with Shalbafian at the Sa'dabad palace in Tehran.

"In order to boost the attraction of tourists from China, the government of Iran has always been trying to facilitating the entry of visitors, and accordingly, it has voluntarily removed visa for Chinese tourists,” Shalbafian said.

China is considered a key ally for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Last month, Beijing brokered a historic agreement between Tehran and Riyadh to resume long separated diplomatic relations.

Amid arrests of dual nationals with Western passports by the Islamic Republic in recent months, several countries issued warnings to their citizens against traveling to Iran.

Chinese tourism is a huge win for the regime on the back of the global perceptions of the dangers of traveling to Iran, once a much loved tourism destination.

Fearing arrest by Iranian authorities, those foreign tours still operating to the country’s historic sites have been canceled since the protests following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.