Whether anything was accomplished remains a mystery.
The fact that Moslehi is the contact man suggests the further sidelining of President Ahmadi-nejad when it comes to core policy issues.
Both countries acknowledged the visit, but provided little other information—and said nothing about any agreements, if there were any.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Moslehi flew to Riyadh Monday. “The intelligence minister’s trip to Saudi Arabia has to do with consultations between the two countries
aimed at removing misunderstandings and discussing security issues,” Ramin Mehman-Parast, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said.
On the other side, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that Moslehi met Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, who is Saudi Arabia’s interior minister. SPA said “questions of common interest” were discussed, without saying what those questions were.
Moslehi doesn’t routinely travel to other countries to engage in overt foreign policy initiatives, so the visit drew great interest.
Furthermore, Moslehi’s trip was the first to Riyadh by a top Iranian official since the deterioration of Iran-Saudi ties began following the Saudi military intervention in Bahrain in March to back the Sunni minority against Shiite protesters.
Relations have further frayed with Riyadh accusing Tehran of interfering in neighboring Arab states and warning that Iran’s nuclear program poses a threat to regional security. And tensions worsened still further following US accusations of an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi envoy to Washington.
All of that makes Iran-Saudi relations most tender at this juncture. But Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi is not being called on to address the frictions.
Salehi is seen as President Ahmadi-nejad’s man, while Moslehi is clearly the choice of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi, who overturned Moslehi’s firing by Ahmadi-nejad last spring. So this suggests that Khamenehi is running Iranian policy in the Persian Gulf to the exclusion of the Foreign Ministry run by Ahmadi-nejad’s pick.
It isn’t known whether Iran or Saudi Arabia initiated this week’s contact. Nor is it known if any agreement was reached during the visit.
According to a WikiLeaks published cable, Saudi King Abdullah has urged the United States to attack Iran, using the phrase: “Cut off the head of the snake.”