U.S. officials this week told Axios that the recent diplomatic agreement reached by China between Saudi Arabia and Iran won’t affect the ongoing efforts to improve relations between Washington and Riyadh.
Chinese officials brokered an agreement with the governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia to resume diplomatic relations, the two countries announced last week. Some experts previously told Axios that the move was more “about bloc-building rather than peace-building,” and said the agreement could affect U.S. influence in the Middle East.
“The Saudis agreed to possibly reopen an embassy in Tehran in two months. There’s no peace treaty here, but a return to the pre-2016 status quo,” an unidentified senior U.S. official told Axios on Wednesday.
The official said the White House and Saudi Arabia remain skeptical that Iran will hold up its end of the agreement, “but we welcome de-escalation in the region through diplomacy wherever possible.”
The official added: “The Saudis are not rushing into this, and the agreement is not to reopen their embassies next week. That’s contingent upon what happens over the next two months. If missiles start flying from Yemen again, there won’t be an embassy.”
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