Oct 15, 2015

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking to Arab reporters Oct. 14 in Tehran, called for talks with Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional rival.  Zarif has been on a lobbying offensive to start the process of addressing many of the differences between the two countries, especially regarding Yemen and Syria, where civil wars show no signs of abating. 

Speaking to Majid al-Ali, editor of the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai, and other Arab journalists, Zarif, in response to the question “What does Iran want from the Arabs?”  said, “We are after advancing friendly relations with our Saudi Arabian friends.” 

He added, “We and Arabs in the region are in one ship, and if this ship sinks, everyone will drown together, and there is no one that will save us.  I hope that our Arab friends pay attention to this principle and know that our future is the same and understand that Iran is with them to reach an oasis of stability.” 

Zarif suggested that Iran and Saudi Arabia could work together on counterterrorism in the region, asserting, “Our hands are extended to our friends and brothers in order to fight terrorism, and this is not just a slogan.”  He added, “We and Saudi Arabia have the same interests and challenges, so why shouldn’t we work together.  The time has come to think of group interests.”  Zarif said that Iran’s “first priority is to expand relations with regional countries,” a view shared by both the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rouhani. 

Although Zarif has been an advocate of opening talks with Saudi Arabia, and even attempted to arrange a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir at the UN General Assembly in September, but was rebuffed, he acknowledges the current and historical obstacles.  As many Iranian officials are keen to do, he cited the support Arab states in the Persian Gulf lent Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. “ Our Arab friends who in the eight years of war against Iran supported Saddam know that we did not demand anything from them for their support,” he said.