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Iran-Saudi détente foiled Israel’s Iranophobia scenario, Lebanese lawmaker says

Saturday, 20 May 2023 2:22 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 20 May 2023 3:16 PM ]

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (R) meets with his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Beijing, China, on April 6, 2023. (Photo by the Iranian Foreign Ministry)

A Lebanese parliamentarian says the Israeli regime was the prime loser in the China-mediated agreement on the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Hassan Fadlallah told IRNA in an exclusive interview on Saturday that Americans had for years sought to portray Iran as the enemy of the Arab world and the Israeli regime as a friend and ally of Arabs.

“Israel is the main loser of the Tehran-Riyadh reconciliation, because it had cashed in on presenting itself as a partner of Arab countries against Iran,” he said. The rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia crushed the Zionists’ dream, he said.

“We witnessed Israel's expression of grave concern and displeasure once the agreement was announced. Zionists also displayed their wrath over the matter publicly. This is while all those parties which favored peace and establishment of intimate relations between Iran and Arab states welcomed the development,” Fadlallah stated.

The Lebanese legislator also labeled the rapprochement an important move, stating that Beirut supports close ties between Tehran and Arab states.

“The Israeli regime is a saboteur, enemy and seditionist among Arab countries. The Tehran-Riyadh détente has many impacts, above all at the political level, on the region,” Fadlallah said.

Iran-Saudi reconciliation deal to be recorded in history: Pakistani president

Pakistan’s president says the reconciliation and peace agreement reached between Iran and Saudi Arabia will be recorded in history.

After several days of intensive negotiations hosted by Beijing, Tehran and Riyadh clinched the reconciliation deal on March 10.

The meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on April 6 marked the first such meeting in seven years and emphasized the need to implement the China-brokered agreement.

Iran and Saudi Arabia now believe the deal has the potential to ease tensions in West Asia.

Diplomatic relations were severed by Saudi Arabia in January 2016, after Iranian protesters, angered by the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the Saudi government, stormed its embassy in Tehran.

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