Saudi Arabia releases three Iranian fishermen after 14 months
Three fishermen from Bushehr who were detained in Saudi Arabian waters in June last year have been released. Some observers have viewed this move and the Saudi king's message to Iranian pilgrims as positive signs in the tense relations between Tehran and Riyadh.
The Director of Public Relations of the General Directorate of Fisheries of Bushehr Province announced on Tuesday, August 13, that three Iranian fishermen whose boat entered Saudi Arabian waters in June of last year "due to the tide" and were detained by the country's coast guard were released.
Ardeshir Yarahmadi told the state-run IRNA news agency: "These fishermen were released after serving their sentences and based on consultations between officials from the Foreign Ministries of both sides."
At the same time as this news was published, some Iranian media outlets reported that Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz welcomed the arrival of pilgrims from all over the world to Mecca in a message that was also published in Persian.
IRNA News Agency wrote: "Some West Asian experts consider the exchange of some positive pulses between Tehran and Riyadh in recent weeks as a sign of improving relations between the two sides after the tension of recent years."
Thawing ice between Tehran and Riyadh?
IRNA assessed these events as "the beginning of the thawing of the cold ice in relations between Tehran and Riyadh in recent weeks," and called the granting of visas to the appointed head and staff of the Iranian Interests Protection Office to enter Saudi Arabia another positive message exchanged between the two countries.
The issuance of visas for the Iranian delegation was made on August 5, one day after Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said that Iran was willing to enter into dialogue "with regional countries and even Saudi Arabia" to resolve differences.
Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Tehran in January 2015 after a group of people attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the country's consulate in Mashhad. In recent years, relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have become increasingly strained, including due to what is called a proxy war in areas such as Yemen.
Saudi Arabia, which leads the anti-rebel coalition in Yemen, has repeatedly accused the Islamic Republic of financing, training and equipping the Shiite Houthi rebels. Tehran denies the accusation, saying it only provides “moral support” to the Houthis.
Controversial remarks of the IRGC commander
Despite all this, the publication of statements quoting Brigadier General Nasser Shabani, deputy head of operations at the IRGC's Sarollah headquarters, which were denied a day later, has met with a sharp reaction from Saudi Arabia and other member states of the Council of Islamic Cooperation.
Fars News Agency, a media outlet close to Iran's military and security forces, quoted Shabani as saying on August 6: "We told the Yemenis to hit two Saudi oil tankers and they hit them... Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Ansarullah are our deep-rooted enemy. The enemy is so vulnerable that we can engage them across the border, of course, we do not insist on engaging Saudi Arabia across the border."
The attack on two Saudi oil tankers took place on July 25 as they passed through the Bab al-Mandab Strait near Yemen, which connects the Gulf of Aden to the Indian Ocean. The Fars news agency, while deleting part of Shaabani’s remarks, said his words had been distorted due to “a journalist’s inaccuracy.”
A few days after the publication and denial of these statements, representatives of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly condemned the attack by the "Iranian-backed" Houthis on two Saudi oil tankers in the final statement of their meeting in Jeddah, to which the Iranian representative was not invited.
In response to this statement, Bahram Qasemi said: "Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are unable to attend the meetings of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah due to the failure to issue visas by Saudi Arabia, and therefore such statements are prepared and published unfairly and unilaterally under pressure from Saudi Arabia."
Some positive signs on the path to de-escalation
However, the state news agency cited the increase in the Hajj quota for Iranians this year by 26,000 and the release of two fishermen arrested in Saudi waters on May 18 as other positive signs in the easing of tensions between Tehran and Riyadh. The two fishermen had been in prison for about seven months. It was later said that the number of fishermen was not two but three.
According to Tasnim News Agency, in March last year, nine Iranian fishermen who were arrested after illegally entering Saudi waters were released after two years.
On July 21, President Hassan Rouhani told a gathering of ambassadors and heads of the Islamic Republic's representative offices abroad that the country is willing and seeking to reform and improve its relations with countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE.
Source: DW
