Saudi Crown Prince and Iraqi Prime Minister Discuss ‘Regional Stability’

The Iraqi prime minister met with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the kingdom on Sunday as part of Baghdad’s effort to mediate between Riyadh and Tehran.

Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who traveled to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, is expected to visit Iran, its regional rival, with which Riyadh has not maintained diplomatic ties since 2016.

Prince Mohammed and Kademi addressed “bilateral relations and opportunities for joint cooperation,” the official Saudi press agency reported.

“They exchanged views on a range of issues that would help support and strengthen regional security and stability,” she added.

Iraq has hosted five rounds of talks between the two regional rivals over the past year, with the last meeting taking place in April.

Kadhemi said at the time he believed “reconciliation was near” between Riyadh and Tehran, another expression of the region’s shifting political alignments.

On Saturday, an Iraqi cabinet source said that Kadhemi’s trip to Saudi Arabia and Iran “is related to talks that Riyadh and Tehran recently had in Baghdad.”

The source said these talks are “a roadmap for improving ties and returning to the right course of strengthening bilateral ties” between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which support rival sides in conflict zones in the region.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shia-majority Iran have lost diplomatic ties for six years since Iranian protesters attacked Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic missions in Iran after the kingdom executed Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Riyadh responded by breaking off relations with Tehran.

Earlier in March, Prince Mohammed said his country and Iran are “neighbors forever” and that it was “better for both of us to sort it out and look for ways we can coexist”.

Upon his arrival in the kingdom, Kadhemi performed the minor pilgrimage known as Umrah in the holy city of Mecca, according to images released by his office.