by Suleiman Al-Khalidi
DEAD SEA, Jordan (Reuters) – Iran signaled at a conference in Jordan on Tuesday attended by its regional rival Saudi Arabia, among others, its willingness to talk with all countries in the Middle East, without however that real progress is perceptible and that no direct exchange has taken place.
Intended to promote the stability of Iraq and the Middle East as a whole, the so-called “Baghdad II” conference, organized jointly by Iraq and France, brought together the presidents of the said countries as well as the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and Qatar. , especially.
Also present in Jordan, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, said in front of journalists that she had briefly spoken with her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian to “ask him, again, for the immediate release of the hostages who are being held by the Iran and full respect for international humanitarian law, and international law in general”.
A statement released after the meeting said the participants discussed the repercussions of international crises on Iraq and the region, saying that regional cooperation was needed to overcome these crises, but did not present specific measures.
As Riyadh and Tehran severed ties in 2016, the meeting on the shore of the Dead Sea provided an opportunity for bilateral talks. However, no meeting between the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, and the head of Iranian diplomacy was mentioned.
“We are willing to cooperate with all countries in the region, including countries located south of the Persian Gulf,” said Hossein Amirabdollahian.
During his speech, the Saudi Foreign Minister promised to support Baghdad but did not mention relations with Iran.
Since last year, Iraq has hosted five meetings between Saudi and Iranian officials, the latest of which took place in April. These discussions did not lead to any major progress in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which could be a vector for a return to calm in Iraq and in the region.
“VERMIN”
Tehran and Riyadh, respectively leaders of the Shia and Sunni Muslim communities in the Middle East, support different sides in different regional conflicts, from Yemen to Syria, among others.
While he advocated dialogue, Hossein Amirabdollahian also highlighted Iran’s role in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria. He also referred to Qassem Soleimani, the late commander of an elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards killed in a US strike in Baghdad in January 2020.
On the sidelines of the Iranian Foreign Minister’s speech at the conference, Qassem Soleimani’s successor described Saudi Arabia as “vermin”. She is “not worth being an enemy”, said Esmail Ghaani from Tehran.
The Jordanian meeting was in line with the rally organized last year in Baghdad in order to support the stabilization of Iraq, shaken by multiple crises since the invasion led by the United States in 2003, between the fight against insurgent groups, corruption and political instability.
“We reject interference in (Iraq’s) internal affairs, harming its sovereignty or attacking its territory,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Chia al-Sudani said, adding that Baghdad does not accept “any threat be launched from Iraq against any neighboring or regional country”.
After going to Doha in Qatar where he attended the final of the FIFA World Cup lost by France against Argentina on Sunday, then on the aircraft carrier Charles-De-Gaulle off Egypt where he visited French troops on Monday, Emmanuel Macron stressed that countries needed to focus on security, the economy, water and infrastructure, with the hope of agreeing on concrete common projects.
The French president gave no specific examples of possible areas of cooperation. “We must collectively manage to go beyond the divisions of the moment,” he said, noting that the war in Ukraine had contributed to exacerbating tensions in the region.
Other heads of state and government present included Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, King Abdullah of Jordan and Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
(Reporting Suleiman al-Khalidi in Jordan and Nadine Awadalla and John Irish in Paris, written by Tom Perry and Timour Azhari; French version Augustin Turpin and Jean Terzian, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)