A remarkable shift in Middle East politics affects BRICS
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
A remarkable shift in Middle East politics.
Curious how this will affect both OPEC+ and BRICS.
Bear in mind that:
> Iran has already formally applied to join BRICS.
> Saudi Arabia has already expressed interest in joining BRICS.
Both Saudi Arabia and Iran are founding members of OPEC.
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“After striking their historic peace deal which was mediated by China in Beijing over a week ago, Iran and Saudi Arabia continue to make strikes toward full normalization of ties, after being archenemies for decades – and before that their peoples having been rivals for centuries when it comes to the religious Shia-Sunni divide.
An Iranian official has announced Sunday that the King of Saudi Arabia has issued a formal invitation to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to visit Riyadh in an unprecedented move.
Raisi is said to have “welcomed” the invite from King Salman. Now what remains is setting a date.
… Last week, Henry Kissinger was cited in The Washington Post as calling the Saudi-Iran diplomatic breakthrough “a substantial change in the strategic situation in the Middle East.”
According to more of the well-known former Secretary of State’s commentary:
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“The Saudis, who have been among Washington’s closest allies in the Middle East for decades, “are now balancing their security by playing off the US against China,” he explained.
According to Kissinger, Riyadh’s actions are comparable to what he himself accomplished in the early 1970s when, as secretary of state in the Nixon administration, he helped achieve rapprochement with Beijing amid its tensions with Moscow. …”