Iran calls on Saudi Arabia to work together to resolve issues: IRNA

DUBAI (Reuters): Iran said on Wednesday that Tehran and its regional rival Saudi Arabia should work together to overcome problems, the state news agency IRNA quoted Iranian president’s chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi as saying.

“The relations between Iran and its neighbour Saudi Arabia should not become like the relationship between Tehran and the United States … Tehran and Riyadh should work together to resolve their problems,” Vaezi said.

For decades, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been involved in proxy wars across the Middle East from Syria to Yemen.

Riyadh has been at odds with Tehran since the Islamic revolution of 1979 ushered in a Shia theocracy and set the two on a collision course.

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations following 2016 attacks by demonstrators on its missions in Iran after the kingdom executed revered Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al Nimr.

But their decades-long struggle for regional dominance also flared last year, with a series of attacks on oil infrastructure and tankers which have raised fears of an all-out war.

The dangerous rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, played out in proxy wars and mystery strikes, is destined to fester as long as neither reaches across the gulf that divides them, observers say.