After China and Russia, both rising powers that are confronting the US, Iran is also courting Saudi Arabia with the fifth round of talks to heal ties with the Kingdom.
Published: JANUARY 10, 2022 10:35
Updated: JANUARY 10, 2022 10:39
Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021.
(photo credit: LISI NIESNER/ REUTERS)
As Iraq’s parliament finally gets moving on establishing a new government, and Iran hosts a delegation from Afghanistan, it is clear that Tehran is seeking to achieve multiple foreign policy goals in the coming months. This means that it is hoping to shore up security in Afghanistan and Iraq while expanding its influence across the Middle East. It has many challenges, including the Vienna talks with the West, but it is confident.
Evidence of this confidence was a wide-ranging talk with Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman which was broadcast to local media.
What are some of the major files that Iran is now working on? Buried in the discussion were hints of increasing talks with China. Iran is already part. Of a 25-year agreement with China and wants to cement that agreement with concrete items on the agenda. Iran is sending its foreign minister to China this week.
“The senior Iranian diplomat also mentioned the 25-year Iran-China agreement and operational measures in the field of oil and gas,” the Iranian reports say. “[Foreign Minister] Amir Abdullahian is going to China this weekend at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart and we have various issues on the agenda and a 25-year roadmap is one of them….Our agenda is very diverse and a variety of topics are being pursued in this context.”
Next, China is also focusing on Russia. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is supposed to visit Russia. He is believed to be set to talk defense agreements with Moscow. Reports say that Raisi is expected to sign a 20-year, $10 billion security and defense cooperation agreement. This could lead to aerospace purchases and other items.
Iran also wants new jets and technology. Regarding Raisi’s visit to Moscow, the Iranian foreign ministry said that there are talks on further cooperation. “Iran-Russia relations are based on good neighborliness and are convergent and close, and these convergences have been translated into various actions and perspectives,” the ministry said. This includes Russia’s support for Iran at the Vienna talks. Russia has hinted at progress in those talks.
After China and Russia, both rising powers that are confronting the US, Iran is also courting Saudi Arabia with the fifth round of talks to heal ties with the Kingdom. Iraq has played a role in these talks. Riyadh enabled Iran’s ambassador to the Houthis in Yemen to be evacuated last month, for instance.
“The next round of talks with Saudi Arabia, hosted by Iraq, is on the agenda,” the ministry said. “ As soon as the information was finalized, I was shocked. On issues between us and Saudi Arabia, we tried to continue the talks, despite all the disputes in the mutual interest and the region, by distancing ourselves at points of disagreement on the basis of explicitness, and at the same time trying to establish stable relations between the two countries,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
Iran is also conducting talks with Turkey. According to the media, Iran is paying close attention to Ankara’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s comments on a “tripartite corridor.” Iran says the “region is tired of unhealthy competition and war and bloodshed, many of which are imposed by foreign interference…We welcomed bilateral and even trilateral and quadrilateral talks and tried to be one of their pillars. Ideas and initiatives are being explored, one of which is and is being pursued,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh. Tasnim News says the new talks include a transit agreement with Iran, Turkey and the UAE. “What is forming a happy dynamism in this region,” the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said.
Iran is also conducting new dialogue with Turkmenistan and Venezuela, the ministry says. “Tehran is a place for diplomatic talks and delegations from Iran went to different countries and hosted various delegations and the visit of the President of Turkmenistan is on the agenda. The preliminary trip of their delegation has been done and will be done soon, and [Venezeula leader] Maduro’s trip is also on the agenda, and I will announce its date soon,” Khatibzadeh said.
In addition, Iran is closely watching the recent violence in Kazakhstan and calling for an inclusive government in Afghanistan. Iran does not want to see the persecution of Shi’ites in Afghanistan for instance. The foreign ministry says that it wants to see an Afghan government that should be such that it is stable and provides peace in Afghanistan in the future. “Iran will do its best to make Afghanistan’s future different from today, within the framework of good neighborly policy and kinship relations with the Afghan people.”
Meanwhile, Iran says that it is looking to make progress in talks with South Korea. South Korea sent a representative to the Vienna talks recently, according to the reports in Iran. Iran says South Korea should release frozen Iranian assets.
The context of the extensive Iranian diplomatic activity is that Iran has a lot on its agenda. It wants to increase ties with Russia and China, which it sees as rising powers that will replace the US. At the same time, it wants to repair ties with Saudi Arabia and work with the UAE and Turkey. It is also eyeing the Vienna talks and trips to Oman, to secure its finances, as well as looking to secure its borders by expanding influence into Iraq and Afghanistan.
