Speaking to ISNA on Monday, Spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Hossein Naghavi-Hosseini, said “the recent mistakes in the Persian Gulf, much like the futile war in Yemen, had created a swamp for Saudi Arabia’s and UAE’s forces. Recently, we witnessed a change in the UAE’s position when they left the coalition against Yemen. The sum of these developments, I would say, caused Saudi Arabia to change course.”
Stressing that “tension in the region is in no one’s interest,” he said “Saudi Arabia has not only benefited from these tensions, but it was forced to purchase military equipment and incur losses.”
“It seems that Saudi Arabia is on the verge of a serious transformation. Of course, the Kingdom will continue its cooperation with the US based on their previous agreements, and most recently, the US has agreed to a new arms sale to Saudi Arabia,” he added.
Still, “Saudi Arabia seems to be moving toward de-escalation,” Naghavi-Hosseini said, noting that talks and de-escalation usually begin with smaller steps.
His remarks came as Saudi authorities recently allowed the Iranian oil tanker ‘Happiness’, all its crew and two other ships to leave Jeddah to return to Iran. The tanker was detained by Saudi Arabia for more than two months, after the Kingdom said it had rescued the tanker with 26 on board off the Red Sea port of Jeddah, after it faced “engine failure and the loss of control.”
The Saudis were refusing to let the vessel leave and were, at the same time, demanding that Iran pay $200,000 a day for maintaining the vessel in the port city of Jeddah, some $10 million in total.
The tanker was finally released on July 20 “following various bouts of consultations and incessant follow-up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with concerned officials and after the technical glitch was fixed,” according to FM spox Mousavi.
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