Are we getting closer to peace in the Middle East? It certainly looked that way on Friday, after regional archrivals Iran and Saudi Arabia made a striking announcement. According to a joint communiqué issued after an intensive round of negotiations in Beijing, the two largest oil producers in the world have agreed to normalize relations and reopen embassies in each other’s capitals. The countries “expressed their keenness to exert all efforts towards enhancing regional and international peace and security,” according to the statement. The move toward peace is all the more shocking given the stormy Saudi-Iran relationship in recent years. After Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in 2016, Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic relations completely, and the two countries have since been embroiled in a series of devastating proxy wars from Yemen to Syria. The development also marks a huge diplomatic coup for Beijing as it seeks to supplant the U.S. as the dominant world power in the Middle East.
