Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders that the international community should oblige Israel “to respect the sovereignty of the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran and not to violate its lands”.

The restored ties between Riyadh and Tehran have reshaped the diplomatic landscape, which Trump will have to reckon with when he takes office again next year, said H.A. Hellyer, Middle East expert at the Royal United Services Institute. “Clearly Riyadh and Tehran are warming their relationship, and this is a very different regional environment as compared to when Trump was last in office,” Hellyer said. “Trump may want to expand the Abraham Accords when he takes office next year, but unless Israel changes tack drastically in the region, that’s going to (be) fraught with many more challenges than last time.”

Sunni Muslim-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran have often found themselves on opposing sides of regional conflicts including Syria’s. In 2015, Saudi Arabia mobilised a military coalition to support Yemen’s internationally recognised government after Iran-backed Huthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa and advanced towards the main southern city of Aden. The following year, Riyadh and Tehran severed ties following attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran during protests over Riyadh’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. In March 2023, however, they announced a rapprochement deal brokered by China.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have maintained high-level contact as part of efforts to contain the war that broke out in Gaza