Sharif conveys Saudi terms to Tehran
MEDIATION WAS NOT REQUESTED BY RIYADH AS IT IS NOT THE AGGRESSOR, ANALYST SAYS
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army chief General Raheel Sharif arrived in Tehran yesterday to meet Iranian leadership, as part of efforts to defuse rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The two will met Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and will call on Iranian grand spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Dawn Online reported.
During the visit to Saudi Arabia, Sharif met King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz and will deliver the king’s message to the Iranian leadership in Tehran.
Riyadh has assured that if Tehran shows positive signs, diplomatic ties may be restored.
A list of points has been given to the Pakistani leadership for discussion with Iran’s leadership, said diplomatic sources.
Meanwhile, analysts say that Pakistani mediation efforts were an initiative from Islamabad and were not requested by Saudi Arabia.
Tehran, they added, began the escalation when it failed to protect Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran from rioting mobs, and it is now incumbent on the country to show good will. The ball, they said, is in Iran’s court.
Very close to Saudi Arabia
“I believe Sharif’s efforts are of his own,” Saudi analyst Khalid Al Maeena told Gulf News. “Because Pakistan is very close to Saudi Arabia, and has historically had friendly relations with Iran,” he added.
Other Saudi political scientists expressed a similar view. “Turkey has offered its mediation and so have Russia and Pakistan... but Saudi Arabia has not announced any position on any of these offers,” said academic and writer Khalid Al Dakheel.
“You know that Russia has Germany wants to work with Iran to help calm regional conflicts now that the Islamic Republic is emerging from international isolation and also prevent tension escalating with Saudi Arabia, Germany’s foreign minister said yesterday.
Iran emerged from years of being considered a pariah state at the weekend after the United States, European Union and United Nations lifted sanctions linked to its nuclear programme under an international deal which involved Germany.
Iran was the key to stabilising the Middle East, referring to conflicts in Syria and Yemen, the minister, FrankWalter Steinmeier, said.
“We need Iran to calm the conflicts and re-establish stability in this crisis-hit region. And I hope Iran is ready for this,” Steinmeier told foreign journalists. a higher regard for Iran than Pakistan,” yet Riyadh has not asked for Moscow’s mediation, Al Dakheel told Gulf News.
Foreign media outlets quoted a statement by Sharif’s office saying that the Pakistani prime minister expressed, during his meeting with King Salman, his country’s “deep concern” over the recent escalation of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran and called for early resolution of differences through peaceful means.
“What happened was not an escalation from the two sides,” said Salman Al Dossary, Editorin-Chief of the pan-Arab Saudiowned newspaper of Al Sharq Al Awsat. “What happened was a violent action and rejected by all countries of the world,” he said in an email to Gulf News.