Saudi and Iran held direct peace talks in April to ease tensions. This comes at a time when the US wants to revive a 2015 nuclear pact with Tehran and end the Yemen conflict.
The first meeting was on 9th April held in Iraq, did not lead to any breakthroughs. The topics were Yemen and Lebanon. In Yemen, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi group since March 2015. In Lebanon, which is facing a political vacuum amid a dire financial crisis, there appears to be a growing role of Hezbollah, which has alarmed some Gulf Arab states.
Sources said, “This was a low-level meeting to explore whether there might be a way to ease ongoing tensions in the region, and they were based on Iraq’s request”. Iraq’s prime minister held talks in early April with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and leaders in the United Arab Emirates.
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