Iraqi PM meets Saudi Crown Prince, traveling to Iran later

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz met with Iraqi caretaker prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi in Jeddah on Saturday and discussed bilateral relations.

Al-Kadhimi’s visit, reports said, is aimed at reactivating Baghdad-mediated talks between the kingdom and Iran. After his meeting with Prince Mohammed, the Iraqi prime minister plans to travel to Tehran.  

Al-Kadhimi has stressed he wants balanced relations with the two neighbors. Improving relations with Saudi Arabia was a key policy of his administration when he took office in May 2020. This is al-Kadhimi’s second visit to oil-rich kingdom since.

The Saudi-Iran talks began in Baghdad in 2021 are geared to defuse longstanding tensions between the regional rivals and to find a way to end the disastrous war in Yemen between Saudi-backed government and Houthi rebels supported by Iran. 

The conflict has led to thousands of killings and spawned worst human rights violations. 

So far five rounds of talks between the two countries have produced no concrete outcome. 

Iraq borders both Iran and Saudi Arabia and is often caught in the middle of the two nations’ proxy wars.