Mideast rivals meet to defuse tensions

updated 5:25 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2007

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are bumpy at the best of times, but violence between Shiites and Sunnis in Lebanon and Iraq is prompting the two Mideast heavyweights to engage in new talks seeking to head off a regional crisis.

The clearest sign of the new diplomacy has been in Lebanon, where a joint Saudi-Iranian effort defused a general strike called by the pro-Iranian Shiite militant group Hezbollah after the country erupted into violence two weeks ago, according to state-guided Saudi media.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal has said the two nations began working together after Iran approached his country to “cooperate in averting strife between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq and Lebanon” — an apparent reference to the joint intervention that calmed the strike unrest.

Saudi Arabia sent a high-profile envoy, Prince Bandar, to Tehran to study efforts being made there to defuse the unrest in Iraq and Lebanon and “explore what Iran can contribute,” Al-Faisal said.

Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani made a visit to Saudi Arabia in mid-January that Arab media reports said sought Saudi help in easing tensions between his country and the United States and other Western nations over Tehran’s nuclear program.

After Larijani’s visit, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the envoy proposed that Iran and Saudi Arabia cooperate on Iraq, Lebanon and other issues and that Riyadh’s response had been “positive.”

One Saudi official told The Associated Press last week that Iran asked the kingdom to get Washington to tone down its verbal attacks on Iran.

Saudi Arabia, in turn, asked Iran to pressure its allies in Lebanon to work with Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and to rein in Shiite militias in Iraq, according to the official, who agreed to discuss the talks only on condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

No U.S. reaction yet
It is unclear what the U.S. thinks of the diplomacy. Washington has tried to isolate Iran diplomatically and says it won’t talk to Tehran unless the Iranians suspend uranium enrichment. The Bush administration also is beefing up U.S. military forces in the Persian Gulf in what it says is a signal to Iran.

But it is unlikely Saudi Arabia would risk its key relationship with the United States by entering talks with Iran without first consulting America.

“I’m sure the Saudis are getting the green light from the Americans to talk to the Iranians,” said Saudi professor Khaled al-Dakhil.

Western diplomats in Saudi Arabia said there are no indications that the U.S. or other countries that decline to talk to Iran are unhappy about the Iranian-Saudi talks.

“Even governments that are very cautious about directly engaging Iran are happy that Saudi Arabia and Iran are talking,” said one Western diplomat, who agreed to discuss the efforts only if not quoted by name because of their sensitive nature.

Saudi Arabia has a strong stake in calming the region. It is worried that Shiite-Sunni fighting in Iraq and Lebanon could explode out of control and damage its own interests or even lead the U.S. to attack Iran, which would have repercussions across the Middle East.

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