A totally new pathway for addressing the nuclear issue may have emerged in the region as a result of the deal, Middle East Institute Vice President of Policy Brian Katulis says. “Saudi Arabia is deeply concerned about Iran’s nuclear program and shares a lot of the concerns Israel has about Iran’s nuclear program. For years, the main event for engaging Iran in diplomatic efforts has been at the global level in P5+1 talks that did not fully integrate the concerns of key countries in the Middle East,” he says.
“If this new opening between Iran and Saudi Arabia is going to be meaningful and impactful, it will have to take on these concerns about Iran’s nuclear program – otherwise the opening is just optics if the opening doesn’t address this tough issue. Since Biden’s Plan A of rejoining the Iran nuclear deal hasn’t yet worked out, this regional opening might be a new pathway for diplomacy,”