Iranian President and Saudi Crown Prince hold first talks since ties restored to discuss Israel-Palestine conflict

Middle East, News October 13, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

President of Iran Ibrahim Raisi and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held their first-ever bilateral discussion during a phone call on October 11, 2023. This is the first time in decades that the leaders of the two rival nations have spoken directly to each other.

The call between Riyadh and Tehran came at a time when the Middle Eastern region has been indulged in a security crisis. Israel has been carrying out intense air strikes in the Gaza Strip resulting in the deaths of women children and unarmed civilians. Israel has justified its retaliation after the Gaza-based Hamas militant group carried out an attack on Israel earlier this week.

According to Iranian presidential political affairs aide Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian President and the Saudi crown prince discussed the urgent need to end war crimes against Palestinian people. “Islamic unity was stressed and both believed the regime’s crimes and the US green light will cause destructive insecurity for the regime and backers,” Jamshidi said in a tweet.

Iran has also requested an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces escalates. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, stated on Monday that “Tehran has called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss regional developments.”

Saudi Arabia’s state-owned media outlet SPA reported that the Crown Prince stressed the “necessity of adhering to the principles of international humanitarian law and expressed deep concern for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and its impact on civilians.”

^{Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meets with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Tehran, Iran, on June 17, 2023. (Image Credit: Majid Asgaripour/WANA/via Reuters)}

The Saudi crown prince also said the kingdom was exerting “maximum effort to engage with all international and regional parties to halt the ongoing escalation,” SPA said.

Israel-Hamas war

According to Palestinian and Israeli officials, more than 1,200 Palestinians in Gaza and 1,300 people in Israel have been killed in the violence so far. The U.S. and its European allies are backing Israel for its operation in the Gaza Strip through military support, while Middle Eastern states are raising their concerns over Israel’s carpet bombing of Gaza’s residential facilities, schools, and hospitals.

Western leaders have accused Iran of supporting Hamas in its operations against Israel, a charge that Iran has denied. As the leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the U.S., spoke on a call earlier this week, they called on Iran to stop providing support to the Hamas fighters.

“We call on other extremist groups or any state that might try to take advantage of the situation, especially Iran, not to try to exploit this situation for other purposes, nor to expand the conflict beyond Gaza,” the joint press release said.

Israel attacks Gaza — *^{A ball of fire and smoke rises above a building in Gaza City on October 7, 2023, during an Israeli air strike after the surprise attack by Hamas group. (Image Credit: AP)}*

Upon being asked about Raisi’s call with the crown prince, a senior U.S. State Department official said Washington was in “constant contact with Saudi leaders”. The official added that the U.S. was asking its partners with channels or relations with Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, or Iran “to get Hamas to stand down from its attacks, to release hostages, keep Hezbollah out (and) keep Iran out of the fray.”

Saudi-Iran ties

Iran and Saudi Arabia reestablished their diplomatic ties this year following years of rivalry due to geopolitical and religious differences. The two countries have been accused of orchestrating proxy wars across the Middle East by backing opposite sides in conflicts, including Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon. The landmark political progress pushed by Beijing earlier this year brought Tehran and Riyadh closer to each other after seven years of diplomatic rift.

Riyadh severed ties with Tehran in 2016 after protesters invaded Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran, following Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shia scholar.