伊朗和沙特阿拉伯的高级外交官分别表示，他们可能愿意举行多年来的首次会谈，因为中东地区的紧张局势越来越不稳定，使这两个对手相互对立。
沙特外交部长豆豆王子兽·费萨尔·本·法尔汉周三告诉路透社，他的逊尼派穆斯林王国“愿意与什叶派伊斯兰共和国进行对话”。在瑞士达沃斯举行的世界经济论坛场外，王室成员表示，“对话必须从伊朗接受他们必须改变行为开始。”
他说，具体来说，德黑兰将不得不同意“不能通过暴力推进其地区议程”
尽管伊朗外交部长穆罕默德·贾瓦德·扎里夫在组织者所谓的日程改变后拒绝了达沃斯的邀请，但他周四发布了一条阿拉伯语推特，进一步打开了与沙特和波斯湾地区其他国家直接接触的大门。
扎里夫在推特上写道:“伊朗仍然愿意与邻国对话，我们宣布愿意参与任何符合该地区利益的互补工作，我们欢迎任何能给伊朗人民带来希望、给他们带来稳定和繁荣的举措。”。
沙特外交大臣费萨尔·本·法尔汉王子描述了沙特与伊朗接触的潜在意愿，但前提是伊朗否认使用武力扩大其区域影响力，瑞士达沃斯，1月22日。伊朗自己的最高外交官后来表示愿意开始谈判。
沙特外交部长阿黛尔朱拜尔周四在达沃斯间隙接受阿拉伯电视台采访时详细阐述了利雅得的做法，指责德黑兰在伊拉克、叙利亚、黎巴嫩、也门、巴林和沙特阿拉伯境内招募盟友，主要是什叶派穆斯林部队。
朱拜尔说:“他们应该首先照顾他们的人民，他们应该离开阿拉伯土地，他们应该停止继续成为世界上恐怖主义的主要支持者。我们没有向伊朗发射子弹，我们没有向伊朗发射导弹，我们没有针对伊朗部署恐怖组织，我们没有暗杀伊朗外交官，也没有像他们一样炸毁伊朗大使馆，所以我们不能降级，因为没有什么可以降级的。”
然而，伊朗长期以来一直指责沙特阿拉伯支持各种圣战组织，试图挑起地区不和，宣扬逊尼派伊斯兰教的极端保守品牌。
几十年来，利雅得和德黑兰一直在争夺地区影响力，但在2016年初，伊朗抗议者烧毁了沙特大使馆，以回应沙特处决一名被控煽动骚乱的著名什叶派穆斯林教士。从那以后，伊朗一再呼吁和解与合作与沙特阿拉伯及其阿拉伯半岛盟友合作，但唐纳德·特朗普总统的政府不鼓励外交接触。
自2017年初上任以来，特朗普对伊朗采取了强硬立场，并在第二年退出了2015年与伊朗、中国、欧盟、法国、德国、俄罗斯和英国达成的核协议。该协议给予伊朗制裁减免，以换取遏制其核活动，但沙特阿拉伯和以色列等国家反对。
特朗普政府此后对伊朗实施了严厉制裁，华盛顿指责德黑兰袭击了阿曼湾的油轮，对美国人员居住的伊拉克基地发动了火箭袭击，并在9月份对沙特石油设施发动了导弹和无人机袭击。
伊朗否认对这些行为负责，并呼吁组建霍尔木兹和平努力联盟，包括霍尔木兹海峡两岸的国家。利雅得和其他任何政府都没有接受这一提议，尽管沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国加入了由美国领导的国际海事安全组织，该组织也包括阿尔巴尼亚、澳大利亚、巴林和英国。
1月21日，在胡塞武装控制的首都萨那，也门儿童参观了一个反战展览，展览展示了由学生制作的纪念烈士周的军事模型。伊朗对沙特领导的反对也门胡塞武装运动的战争深表批评。在也门，华盛顿立法者投票赞成削减美国对利雅得的援助，这一历史性举动后来被唐纳德·特朗普总统否决。
本月早些时候，伊朗导弹袭击了驻扎美国人员的伊拉克基地，这是德黑兰军事力量罕见的公开展示。它是为了回应美国通过自己的直接打击急剧升级的与伊朗的冲突——暗杀伊朗革命卫队圣城旅指挥官少将·卡西姆·苏莱曼尼，以及一名伊拉克主要民兵官员和他们在巴格达的随行人员。
尽管美国-伊朗危机中的国与国之间的因素暂时平息了，但这种激烈的紧张局势引发了该地区对全面战争及其后果的担忧。除了9月份的石油袭击，沙特阿拉伯还面临着邻国也门的扎伊迪什叶派穆斯林安萨尔·阿拉或胡塞武装运动声称的多次导弹袭击。
沙特领导的联盟已经对胡塞发动了为期五年的战争，并指责胡塞得到了伊朗的支持。华盛顿议员去年投票赞成削减美国对利雅得的军事援助，理由是人权问题，这是一项历史性举措，后来否决了特朗普。
同一天，美国军队以苏莱曼尼为目标，他们还试图干掉在也门的另一名圣城军高级成员，华盛顿邮报上周报道的。该报援引四名美国官员的话，列出了一项不成功的刺杀伊朗领导人阿卜杜勒·礼萨·沙赫莱的任务，他被描述为该精英集团的主要金融家和指挥官，尽管美国尚未公开承认这一行动。
IRAN AND SAUDI ARABIA EXPRESS POTENTIAL FOR TALKS AMID MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS
Iran and Saudi Arabia's top diplomats have separately expressed their potential willingness to hold their first talks in years amid increasingly destabilizing Middle East tensions that have pitted the two rivals against one another.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Prince Faisal bin Farhan told Reuters on Wednesday that his Sunni Muslim kingdom was "open to the idea of holding a dialogue" with the Shiite Islamic Republic. Speaking at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the royal said "that dialogue would have to start with the acceptance by Iran that they have to change their behavior."
Specifically, he said, Tehran would have to agree that it "cannot further its regional agenda through violence."
While Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif declined his Davos invitation after an alleged schedule change on the part of the organizers, he posted an Arabic-language tweet Thursday that further opened the door for direct contacts with Saudi Arabia and other nations of the Persian Gulf region.
"Iran remains open to dialogue with its neighbors and we announce our readiness to participate in any complementary work that is in the interest of the region, and we welcome any step that restores hope to its people and brings them stability and prosperity," Zarif tweeted.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan describes a potential willingness for his country to engage with Iran, but only if it disavowed the use of force in expanding its regional influence, Davos, Switzerland, January 22. Iran's own top diplomat later signaled a readiness to begin talks
Saudi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir elaborated on Riyadh's approach Thursday in an interview with Al Arabiya at the sidelines of Davos, accusing Tehran of recruiting allied, mostly Shiite Muslim forces in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain and within Saudi Arabia itself.
"They should take care of their people first, they should get out of Arab lands and they should desist from continuing to be the chief sponsor of terrorism in the world," Jubeir arguing that "we haven't fired a bullet at Iran, we haven't launched a missile at Iran, we haven't planted terrorist cells against Iran, we haven't assassinated Iranian diplomats or blown up Iranian embassies as they have with us, so we can't de-escalate because there's nothing to de-escalate from."
Iran has, however, long accused Saudi Arabia of supporting various jihadi groups in an attempt to stir regional discord and promote an ultraconservative brand of Sunni Islam.
Riyadh and Tehran have contended for regional influence for decades but severed ties at the beginning of 2016 after Iranian protesters burned down the Saudi embassy in response to the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric charged with inciting disorder. In the years since, Iran has repeatedly called for reconciliation and cooperation with Saudi Arabia and its Arabian Peninsula allies, but President Donald Trump's administration has discouraged diplomatic engagement.
Since taking office in early 2017, Trump has adopted a hard-line position against Iran and walked away the following year from a nuclear deal reached with Iran in 2015 alongside China, the European Union, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. The agreement granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbing its nuclear activities, but countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel opposed it.
The Trump administration has since imposed tough sanctions on Iran, and Washington has blamed Tehran for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, rocket attacks on Iraqi bases housing U.S. personnel and a missile and drone attack on Saudi oil facilities in September.
Iran has denied responsibility for these acts and has called for the formation of a Coalition for HOPE, or Hormuz Peace Endeavor, involving countries across the Strait of Hormuz. Neither Riyadh nor any other government has yet accepted the offer though Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined a rival U.S.-led grouping known as the International Maritime Security Construct, also involving Albania, Australia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom.
Yemeni children visit an anti-war exhibition displaying military models made by school children to commemorate Martyrs' Week in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, January 21. Iran has deeply criticized the Saudi-led war against the Houthi movement in Yemen, where Washington lawmakers have voted in favor of cutting U.S. assistance to Riyadh in a historic move later vetoed by President Donald Trump.
The Iranian missile attack that struck Iraqi bases housing U.S. personnel earlier this month was a rare, open showing of Tehran's military might. It came in response to the U.S. dramatically escalating its conflict with Iran with a direct strike of its own—the assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani, along with a leading Iraqi militia official and their entourage in Baghdad.
Though the state-versus-state element of the U.S.-Iran crisis has calmed for the moment, such flaring tensions have set off regional fears of all-out war and its consequences. In addition to September's oil attacks, Saudi Arabia has faced multiple missile strikes claimed by the Zaidi Shiite Muslim Ansar Allah, or Houthi, movement in neighboring Yemen.
A Saudi-led coalition has been engaged in a five-year war against the Houthis, which it accuses of receiving Iranian backing. Washington lawmakers voted last year in favor of cutting U.S. military assistance to Riyadh over human rights concerns in a historic move later vetoed Trump.
On the same day that U.S. forces targeted Soleimani, they also sought to take out another senior Quds Force member in Yemen, The Washington Post reported last week. Citing four U.S. officials, the paper laid out an unsuccessful mission to kill Iran's Abdul Reza Shahlai, described as a key financier and commander of the elite group, though the U.S. has not yet publicly acknowledged this action.
