The US regards the new deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In an exclusive interview with The National, Ms Leaf described it as a “detente, not a rapprochement or reconciliation … it is a resumption of a relationship that existed until the events of January 2016″. “But it would seem to signal towards a broader detente,” she said.And despite the fact that the deal was sealed in Beijing, the US has been resoundingly supporting of it — and hoping that it leads to an end of the war in Yemen. The Saudi-Iran detente comes at a time of general de-escalation in the region, which the US welcomes. Ms Leaf said that since President Joe Biden “came into office, the administration has been promoting privately and publicly the notion of de-escalation”.She added that at the time it was “a very over-pressurised region, riven with rifts”.
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The US “actively encouraged the Saudis” to engage the Iranians and it was “what they were already thinking about when we came into office and that they set themselves to with alacrity”.The issue is “more than non-interference in domestic affairs … the heart of the matter has been Iranian lethal support, lethal training and resources to the Houthis who have promulgated several years of just relentless missile and drone attacks on the kingdom”. While the Iranians had wanted to speak on resuming diplomatic ties “they wouldn’t really acknowledge the core issue, which was Saudi security, or rather insecurity because of what Iran was doing”. After “a two-year plus effort”, it appears the moment has arrived.
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The US official made a point of mentioning that there were several rounds of discussions in Baghdad and Muscat, ahead of the Beijing meeting that lead to the announcement of a resumption of ties on March 10. Speaking to The National from her office at the State Department in Washington last week, Ms Leaf stressed that “we think it’s a very good thing, if, and it is a big if, Iran does hold to these commitments, it would be a breakthrough, a very significant breakthrough”. However, she said “but it would also be a departure from 40-plus years of Iranian foreign policy operations in constantly fostering insecurity, in its near abroad, and more than its near abroad, in order in some fashion to bolster its own security”. She said it would be excellent if “by some miracle” Iran was to hold on to this set of commitments.
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