MojNews-Iraqi former prime minister believes that General Soleimani played a key role to facilitate Iran-Saudi Arabia detente. 

During the fourth anniversary of General Soleimani’s martyrdom, Abdul Mahdi spoke with Tasnim about the late commander’s role in the improvement of ties between Tehran and Riyadh.

The former prime minister of Iraq said that in September 2019, when he was in Beijing, General Soleimani called and invited him to visit Saudi Arabia in an attempt to repair relations between Tehran and Riyadh.

Diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia had deteriorated after the kingdom’s vocal critic, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a Shiite cleric, was beheaded in Saudi Arabia in January 2016. Following the attacks on its embassy by enraged demonstrators, Riyadh severed diplomatic ties with Tehran.

General Soleimani, according to Abdul Mahdi, was already aware of his plan to act as a mediator between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

“After returning to Baghdad (from Beijing), I called the Saudi officials and informed them about my intention to travel to Riyadh. They asked me what the purpose of the visit was. I replied, ‘Mediation between you and the Islamic Republic of Iran’. They then asked, ‘Who are we going to engage with?’. I said Soleimani. They said, ‘Alright. Come here!’,” the former Iraqi premier said.

Abdul Mahdi described what happened next, when he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, discussed the importance of avoiding clashes with Iran, emphasized the importance of opening channels for negotiations between Tehran and Riyadh, and received a letter from the Saudis with a “tough and disappointing” tone.

General Soleimani had warned that after reading the contents of the letter, Iran would not accept it, Abdul Mahdi said, adding that he had created a new letter with more diplomatic and official language and suggested that Saudis submit an amended letter to Iran.

“We informed General Soleimani that we have sent Saudis the edited letter and are waiting to receive the revised letter. In response to our letter, the Saudis made good revisions that were much better than the initial letter in practice and had been written with a conventional language between two countries that were pushing for a future different from the conditions that prevailed at that time,” he noted.

According to Abdul Mahdi, General Soleimani agreed to respond to the Saudi letter.

“When General Soleimani visited Baghdad once again, I asked him (about Iran’s response to the Saudi letter). In the last meeting, when we were saying goodbye, he said, ‘I will bring the response with me during the next trip to Baghdad’,” he stated.

As General Soleimani made his final visit to Baghdad on January 3, 2020, before his martyrdom due to a U.S. strike near the airport, the former prime minister of Iraq emphasized that he was communicating Iran’s reaction to Saudi Arabia.

General Soleimani’s procedure laid the foundation for more talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which resulted in several meetings in China, Oman, and Iraq until the reconciliation was finalized in March 2023, as stated by Abdul Mahdi.