But the two buried the hatchet in March with Chinese mediation after nearly seven years of hostility, and hope to re-open embassies soon. Such images would have been inconceivable just months ago, when I ran and Saudi Arabia were bitter regional foes engaging in multiple proxy conflicts across the Middle East. Dabais told Zarangar that the friendly welcome for the Iranians was “from the directives of the leadership, from the king, from the crown prince.” Sixty-five Iranians evacuated from Sudan by the Saudi military were welcomed in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah with flowers, images of which were broadcast on both Iranian and Saudi state television. “If you need anything in Saudi, you’re most welcome… Iran and Saudi, they are brothers.” “(This is) your country,” the kingdom’s Western Region Commander Major General Ahmed Al-Dabais declared to the departing Iranians as he held hands with Hassan Zarangar, Iran’s charge d’affaires to the kingdom. When Iranian evacuees from Sudan were being flown out of Saudi Arabia on Saturday, a top Saudi military official went as far as boarding their plane back home to bid them a warm farewell.
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