MBS New Tone with Iran–MES EP.148

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler MBS said last week that he sees Iran as a neighbor where none of them is capable of cancelling the other.

In an interview with The Atlantic Magazine said he intends to continue “detailed talks” with Iran in order to reach a satisfactory agreement for both, while stressing the need for a strong nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers at talks in Vienna. It seems MBS eyes are fixated at what could come out of Vienna and how that would affect the west’s approach towards the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

However, this does not change the fact that these statements mark a significant shift in tone compared to MBS’s previous interviews, in which usually lashed out at the Islamic republic, demonizing it every chance he gets.

To discuss this issue with us from Beirut is Ali Mourad political commentator.

“Water to Create Peace”, a content that was revived during the meetings of the Blue Peace Initiative at Dubai Expo 2020 recently, to create the necessary regional cooperation in the parties’ states within the harmonious initiative, achieve sustainable development goals, and transform water into a tool towards peace, after the Covid pandemic disrupted the acceleration of its pace.

The MidEaStream took part in the meetings along with the participants in the “Water and Peace” dialogues, which were held by the Foundation for Media through Cooperation and Transformation (MiCT), in cooperation and with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Dubai last week.

Attendees of the Blue Peace Initiative stressed the need to proceed with building the necessary confidence between the member states, namely Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon while accentuating the necessity of having Iran on board too, in the water initiative calling for resolving transboundary water issues within peaceful solutions.

To discuss this issue with us from Amman is André Wehrli Senior Water Policy Advisor at Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.