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Iran on Tuesday reopened its embassy in Saudi Arabia, marking the beginning of the end of a seven-year diplomatic freeze between the two regional rivals.

The opening follows an agreement mediated by China in April for the two countries to normalize relations by resuming flights and eventually exchanging ambassadors. Saudi Arabia has not yet said when it will open its embassy in Tehran.

Saudi Arabia cut off ties with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad were stormed by mobs of protesters outraged by Saudi Arabia’s execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a Shia cleric from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province who was convicted of engaging in “foreign meddling” and taking up arms against against the state.

Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency on Tuesday quoted Iran’s new Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alireza Enayati, as saying that Iran was focused on “cooperation” and “security in the region.”

“Security cannot be acquired with weapons and ammunition or through military forces,” Enayati said. “Militarizing security is a big mistake. Security in its new sense should be achieved through economic, commercial, social and cultural development, and we welcome that idea.” 

Saudi Arabia in recent years has sought to reconcile with its global antagonists, reestablishing normal ties with Qatar in 2021, Turkey in 2022, Syria in April, Canada in May, and now Iran.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said that during his trip to Saudi Arabia this week he would also make a normalization deal between the Kingdom and Israel a priority, a move that Saudi Arabia has so far not publicly indicated warmth towards.

But in a surprise move on Monday, Saudi Arabia mended perhaps its most heated international rift with the announcement of a merger between the US PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

Longtime Saudi critic Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Monday expressed his skepticism that the battle between the PGA and LIV was really about values in light of the merger between the multibillion-dollar sports enterprises.

“PGA officials were in my office just months ago talking about how the Saudis’ human rights record should disqualify them from having a stake in a major American sport,” Murphy wrote on Twitter. “I guess maybe their concerns weren’t really about human rights?”

Source of original article: Middle East – Algemeiner.com (www.algemeiner.com).
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