Saudi Arabia - page 8

Adel Al-Jubeir, Saudi Foreign Minister, said that Iran’s talk of a rapprochement with Saudi Arabia was laughable. He told that Iran would first have to change its policies before any diplomatic thaw could happen in order to respect international law. Al-Jubeir added “At this time, we do not see… that they’re serious about wanting to be a good neighbor”. He said that diplomatic exchanges with Iran over arrangements for the Hajj did not represent a normalization of relations and that such contacts had nothing to do with politics. Sara Bazoobandi, a senior lecturer on international political economy at Regent’s University London, is quite pessimistic and don’t think there is going to be a change whitout an immediate interest. Al-Jubeir also said that should the rift between Qatar and the Anti-Terror Quartet — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain — continue for two years, then “so be it”. Others agreed that the diplomatic rift over Doha’s alleged support of terror groups could be a protracted dispute. Khalid Al-Hail, spokesman of the Qatari opposition, said the situation is likely to lead to regime change within the Gulf state. “The continued standoff is causing hardship within Qatar, provoking civil unrest and increasingly the likelihood that the emir will be replaced in the near future (through) a coup by members of the ruling Al-Thani family”, he told Arab News.