By;Asghar Ali Mubarak

Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is visiting Saudi Arabia from 7th May 2021 to perform Umrah on the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.Mean while the question is ‘’can Pakistan Can Pakistan reset ties with Iran. As Pakistan welcomed Saudi Arabia’s outreach for peace with Iran.

On March 30, 2021, the Crown Prince had made a telephonic call to inquire about Khan’s health as the latter had tested positive for COVID-19 and was spending time in quarantine.

Wishing Khan a quick recovery, Mohammed Bin Salman had invited him to visit Saudi Arabia after recovery which the prime minister accepted.According to Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Khan’s visit will prove a milestone in bilateral relations and the two countries are expected to sign several accords and Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) in diversified areas, especially economic and trade relations.

He said the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to Pakistan after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party came to power helped the two countries further strengthen bilateral relations. Prime Minister’s Special Representative for the Middle East Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi has also termed the Prime Minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia significant.

Imran Khan is visiting Saudi Arabia in the backdrop of the Crown Prince’s “Vision 2030” announcement recently.

The Vision 2030 includes ‘Saudi Green Initiative’ & the ‘Green Middle East Initiative’, closely aligned with Pakistan’s “Clean & Green Pakistan Initiative.”

While the Crown Prince’s Vision 2030 aims at protecting nature and the planet, Khan’s “Clean and Green Pakistan initiative” also calls for investing in nature-based solutions to address climate change impact in the country, said Ashrafi.

During the visit Pakistan and Saudi Arabia would share and learn from each other’s efforts to tackle climate change and global warming, fight against forest degradation, pollution and other such challenges, he said. Islamabad is becoming increasingly wary of an escalating conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has set out on a mission to defuse tension between the Middle Eastern rivals. Imran Khan has begun his maiden visit to Iran as Pakistani premier amid deteriorating ties between Islamabad and Tehran. Will Khan be able to allay Iran’s growing concerns over his country’s closeness to Saudi Arabia?Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan held talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran last year. He also met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other high-ranking Iranian officials during his visit.Iran is also angered by Pakistan’s role in the Saudi-led military alliance that is operating against Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen.”I told Prime Minster Imran [Khan] we welcome any gesture by Pakistan for peace in the region and appreciate his visit to our country,” said Rouhani at press conference

Pakistan PM Imran Khan visit to Saudi Arabia ,Can Pakistan reset ties with Iran?Pakistan welcomed Saudi Arabia’s outreach for peace with Iran;

 

Pakistan’s Prime Minister has welcomed Saudi Arabia’s outreach for peace with Iran.The peace initiative between the two countries will strengthen the global Muslim community, Imran Khan said on Twitter late on other day.“We welcome the KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] initiative for peace with Iran. Iran is our neighbor and KSA our closest friend. This peace initiative will strengthen the Muslim Ummah,” he wrote.Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a televised interview this week that his country wants “Good Relations” with Iran, marking a break from Riyadh’s usually tough stance against Tehran.“We want a prosperous Iran and to have mutual interests with each other, but our problem is its negative actions, such as its nuclear program or support for outlaw militias in the region, or its ballistic missile program,” he told Al Arabiya TV. “We are working with our partners to deal with this problem, and we hope to overcome it and have a good and positive relationship with everyone.”While the prince did not share any further details, British media recently reported that Saudi and Iranian delegations met in Iraq’s capital Baghdad on April 9.The secret talks, according to the report, were aimed at easing tensions between the regional rivals, with the attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthi rebels also part of the discussion.The two sides agreed to hold another round of talks, the report claimed.Mean while the Pakistani foreign office Spokesperson Mr.Zahid Chudhery in his last briefing to media at ministry of foreign affairs Islamabad while replying a question about Saudi Crown Prince recently talked about peace with Iran, the Spokesperson stated that Pakistan welcomes Saudi Arabia’s initiative for peace with Iran. welcome Saudi Arabia’s initiative for peace with Iran.Pakistan enjoys good brotherly relations with both Iran and Saudi Arabia,he added. He further stated that Pakistan has always stressed the imperative of avoiding any conflict, underscored the importance of defusing tensions and stressed the need for resolution of differences and disputes through political and diplomatic means.”We believe that the peace initiative announced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will lead to unity among the Muslim World,he said.Pakistan enjoys good brotherly relations with both Iran and Saudi Arabia.Pakistan has always stressed the imperative of avoiding any conflict, underscored the importance of defusing tensions and stressed the need for resolution of differences and disputes through political and diplomatic channel. We   welcome Saudi Arabia’s initiative for peace with Iran. ‘Pakistan enjoys good brotherly relations with both Iran and Saudi Arabia’he added. ‘’Pakistan has always stressed the imperative of avoiding any conflict, underscored the importance of defusing tensions and stressed the need for resolution of differences and disputes through political and diplomatic means.We believe that the peace initiative announced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will lead to unity among the Muslim World.

More over Iran Welcomes Iraqi Mediation with Gulf States after FM’s Saudi Comments, a first round of direct talks between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran signaled a possible de-escalation following years of animosity that often spilled into neighboring countries and at least one still-raging war. But few expect quick results.

There’s no need to be surprised by reports that envoys from Saudi Arabia and Iran have been negotiating in secret in Baghdad. Nor by the fact that the negotiations have been vigorously denied.y . Nor that the Saudi crown prince now has uncommonly constructive things to say (and on the record) about his country’s possible future relationship with Iran.

In the  Biden era, negotiation is normative and essential again. The new U.S. administration is building up to the resumption, or recreation, of Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. The ‘maximum pressure’ policy of the Trump years has been banished from sight. Iran said on Tuesday it welcomes Iraqi mediation to help mend its ties with Gulf Arab states, following reports that Saudi and Iranian officials had held discussions in Iraq.

The remarks by the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad came a day after Iran’s foreign ministry said that Tehran always welcomed dialogue with its arch-rival Saudi Arabia, without confirming that talks had been held.

The two countries severed diplomatic ties in 2016 and have been engaged in several proxy wars in the region as they vie for influence.

“The Islamic Republic (of Iran) supports Baghdad’s mediation to bring Tehran closer to countries with which we have faced challenges or with which ties have cooled, and Iraqi officials have been notified of this,” Iraj Masjedi, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.

Asked about any progress in talks, Masjedi said: “We have not yet reached clear results and significant progress. Let us wait for the work to go forward and we can see practical results.”

A senior Iranian official and two regional sources had told Reuters that Saudi and Iranian officials held discussions in Iraq in a bid to ease tensions as Washington works to revive a 2015 nuclear pact with Tehran and end the Yemen war.

Saudi authorities have not responded to a Reuters request for comment on the talks. Sunni power Saudi Arabia had opposed the international nuclear accord with Shi’ite Iran for not tackling Tehran’s missiles programme and regional behaviour.

It has called for a stronger deal this time around at talks in Vienna aimed at bringing the United States and Iran back into compliance with the pact, which then U.S. President Donald Trump quit in 2018.

Tehran has breached several nuclear restrictions set by the deal after Trump reimposed sanctions.President Joe Biden’s administration is also pressing for a ceasefire in Yemen, which is grappling with what the United Nations describes as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

The talks, hosted Iraq by  earlier this month, were confirmed to media by an Iraqi and a Western official in Baghdad.

They came as the Biden administration paves the way for re-opening diplomatic channels in the region. Saudi Arabia is recalibrating its regional position after losing an unflinching supporter in President Joe Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump. Iran, meanwhile, has calculated that a gradual detente with Riyadh, a long-time U.S. ally, will work in its favor during renewed nuclear talks with Washington and world powers.

Saudi Arabia has sought talks with Iran as the kingdom tries to end its years-long war in Yemen against Iran-backed Houthi rebels. In recent months, the Houthis have increasingly launched missiles and bomb-laden drones at the kingdom, targeting crucial sites and oil infrastructure. Ending that war could be a bargaining chip for the Iranians as they seek sanctions relief from from nuclear talks in Vienna.

The hosting of Saudi-Iran talks is also a significant step for Iraq, which has ties with both the U.S. and Iran and has often borne the brunt of Saudi-Iran rivalry.

A senior Iraqi official said recent trips by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to Riyadh and the United Arab Emirates have been key in bringing Iranian and Saudi interlocutors to the table.

Details of the initial meeting, first reported by The Financial Times, have been sparse. The thorny subject of the Yeman war  figured prominently, the Iraqi official said. The Saudi-Iran rivalry has played out on multiple fronts, mostly in Yemen, as well as in Iraq and Lebanon — both home to powerful Iran-backed militias. A breakthrough in Iran-Saudi talks could have far-reaching repercussions in those countries and across the region.

It was not clear how much progress, if any, was made in the talks, but the Western diplomat suggested there will be more meetings. The pro-Iran Lebanese newspaper, al-Akhbar, said a new round of talks would be held in Baghdad next week, following a “very positive” first meeting.

“My understanding is that these talks will be ongoing and mediated by Baghdad,” the diplomat said. Both the diplomat and Iraqi official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the secretive contacts with the media. They declined to elaborate, saying they wanted to give Iraqi mediation efforts a chance to succeed.

Neither Iran nor Saudi Arabia have offered official confirmation that the talks took place, though Iranian officials have alluded to them, and welcomed them.

The Iranian ambassador to Iraq on Tuesday praised Baghdad’s recent diplomatic efforts, hinting at the Saudi-Iran talks without mentioning the kingdom.

“It seems that the regional and international situation has created a more positive atmosphere for the resolution of some problems between Iran and other nations,” Iraj Masjedi told the state-run IRNA news agency in an interview in Baghdad.

“We would be happy if Iraq could be able to play any role in the direction of Iran’s closeness with nations that we have some challenges with.”

When asked whether Iraq’s mediation has borne fruit, he said the talks “have not reached any clear result and not met any remarkable progress.”Iran and Saudi Arabia have long been regional rivals. Relations worsened considerably in 2016, when Riyadh removed its diplomats after protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad in retaliation for the kingdom’s executing the Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Those posts have remained closed ever since. At the time, Iraq offered itself as a possible mediator between the two countries.

Apart from Iraqi lobbying efforts, other key shifts in the wake of the Biden presidency paved the way for the talks.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to improve relations with the Biden administration which, unlike the Trump administration, has criticized the kingdom’s human rights record, particularly after the 2018 killing of dissident Saudi writer and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Saudis also want to test “whether Iranians have control over the Houthis, whether they are willing to exercise it,” said Randa Slim, director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute. “It’s a testing phase of wills, and interest.”

Meanwhile, changes in Iran’s handling of Iraq also played a role. The intelligence arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard held sway over Iraq through Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. But Soleimani’s killing in a 2020 U.S. drone strike in Baghdad has seen Iran’s Intelligence Ministry grow more powerful there, said the Iraqi official.

The Guard reports directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and holds hard-line views. The Intelligence Ministry reports to Iran’s relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani. While cooperating, the two services are rivals within Iran’s theocracy.

This change of guard was key in bringing Iranians to the table in Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

“They have a new view, a new discourse, they want a stronger Iraq,” one Iraqi official said of the Intelligence Ministry officials. “The (Guard) calculated differently, they wanted the opposite, a weak Iraq was more beneficial to them.”

Iran ‘s regional enemies believe a deal is inevitable, and that it will do their cause great harm. Hence the need to get ahead of the game. Negotiation is, at least on the Saudis’ part, proceeding from a position of weakness. Where once the country felt strong – with the advent of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Sulman  and his proposed reforms eliciting guarded optimism from the kingdom’s Western allies – now it feels decidedly diminished. 

Crown Prince Mohammad bin Sulman was a friend of Donald Trump and was allowed, in a manner of speaking, to get away with murder. But when the Democrats won the presidential mandate, all this fell away. For them, the previous administration’s friendliness with Riyadh is cause for suspicion of the kingdom. Saudi participation in the war in Yemen is not excusable. The murder of Jamal Khashoggi is an indelible black mark. Biden and his people have no time for Saudi hobbyhorses like its years-long blockade of Qatar – now ended, possibly with an eye to the White House. Nor for the kingdom’s implacable opposition to Iran. Saudi anxieties go deeper than poor public relations. The Saudis feel they are running out of road. Whereas once the kingdom could assemble a somewhat ramshackle coalition to counter Iranian expansionism – and on occasion to fight its militias and proxies where they threatened to do damage – now, it stands largely alone.

In Syria, Iranian proxies and Russia assist an Assad regime whose survival is now assured. Regular Israeli air strikes have not stopped those proxies embedding themselves within regime territory. The Saudis appreciate Israel’s attempts to sabotage Iranian nuclear ambitions, but do not believe these efforts can entirely halt Iran’s converging paths to a nuclear weapon, nor rein in its takeover of neighboring countries.Despite the Trump administration’s inelegant attempts to have Israel and the Arab states play nice in order to join forces to counterbalance Iran, co-operation to that end is still limited. Benjamin Netanyahu has not proven the tough-guy container of Iran he portrays himself to be. His strikes in Syria have not seriously affected Assad’s survival or Iran’s takeover of the country. But if Netanyahu is replaced as prime minister, the Saudis believe, even his bellicose rhetorical opposition to Iran may be lost. In Yemen, the Saudis believe the Houthis to be Iranian cut-outs, directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards, and the threats they pose to Saudi territory and its economy to be a powerful weapon in Iranian hands.The Houthis are on the advance. They hold much of  Yemen  and are in the process of mounting a bloody, and effective, offensive on Marib. The bombing campaign with which the Saudis tried to stop them has become an internationally reviled tactic of dubious effectiveness. Yemen’s internationally-recognized government is in disarray. No one is in a position to stop the Houthis’ onward march. Houthi leaders have also claimed a number of attacks by ballistic missiles and drones on Saudi Arabia proper. International investigations believe the missiles and the drones to be Iranian, rather than Houthi, projects. Iranian state media has published video of the state testing ‘ suicide drones ‘ of the same kind in recent days.Whoever is mounting them, these attacks have struck the Saudi capital, Riyadh, many times, and have done great damage to the confidence and security of the Saudi oil economy. A combination drone and missile attack on two sites in 2019 temporarily  halted up to half of the country’s oil processing. A drumbeat of further attacks has continued ever since.Yemen’s war has bogged the Saudis down and now seems to provide the rhetorical cover for these continual bombings. The kingdom’s leaders are willing to make considerable concessions to secure their own territory and to exit Yemen. Last month, the Saudi foreign minister announced a unilateral ceasefire in Yemen, hoping for the same result. Of course, this gambit failed. With maximum pressure a thing of the past, negotiation through gritted teeth appears the only way out ,Saudi policymakers may cautiously hope that negotiation may not mean wholesale capitulation. Iran has constructed a form of status quo wit t Turkey – its foe in Syria and Iraq – that could model what Saudi Arabia may be seeking. Turkey and Iran are not friends. The foreign conflicts in which they back opposite sides continue unabated. But escalation between the powers has largely been avoided.By contrast, the situation for the kingdom is predominately grim. It faces defeat in Yemen and constant cross-border attacks at home. The anti-Iran coalition it hoped to build is, if not about to collapse, undoubtedly on the back foot. All the while, Iran entrenches itself in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen and wholeheartedly pursues its nuclear ambitions. A favorable American president has been defeated and replaced by another who is not amenable to Saudi overtures. And the United States will soon, in Saudi eyes, conclude a hated deal with Iran at any price.