“The U.S.’s humiliating exclusion from the center stage of West Asian politics constitutes a ‘Suez moment’ for the superpower, comparable to the crisis experienced by the U.K. in 1956,” writes M.K. Bhadrakumar in Indian Punchline of the Iran-Saudi agreement announced in Beijing on March 10.
“The agreement announced on Friday in Beijing regarding the normalization of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran and the reopening of their embassies is a historic event,” he wrote the next day. “It goes way beyond an issue of Saudi-Iranian relations. China’s mediation signifies that we are witnessing a profound shift of tectonic plates in the geopolitics of the 21st century.”
The joint statement signed on Friday, March 10 says that it was reached “in response to the noble initiative of President Xi Jinping” and that Saudi Arabia and Iran express “appreciation and gratitude” for Xi Jinping and China’s efforts in “hosting and sponsoring the talks, and the efforts it placed towards its success.”
Bhadrakumar considers the notable U.S. absence from this major development to arise from such causes as “Biden’s own frequent insistence that the fate of humankind hinges on the outcome of a cosmic struggle between democracy and autocracy.”
Consider the timing:
The agreement was signed on the same day that Xi Jinping was elected to a third presidential term.
Just before the agreement was signed, the Saudi foreign minister was in Moscow for a working visit with Sergey Lavrov.
On March 6, President Putin had spoken with Iran’s president by phone.
“It is entirely conceivable that a backlash is about to begin as Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia—three top oil/gas producing countries—start accelerating their search for payment mechanisms bypassing the American dollar.” (https://www.indianpunchline.com/china-steps-up-a-new-era-has-dawned-in-world-politics/ )
