Saudis cautious in moves toward Iran

Saudi Arabia has responded favorably to Iranian overtures for better relations after years of stained ties and tension between the two oil giants. But some in the kingdom remain wary of the Islamic republic.

A source familiar with official thinking in Riyadh said the Saudis had to deal cautiously with Iran, which has long been accused of seeking to destabilize the strategic region.

The kingdom "must not sell itself short," the source said.

Shiite Iran has endured tense relations with Sunni Saudi Arabia since the 1979 revolution in Iran.

Both countries have exchanged accusations and insults, and diplomatic ties were severed completely after 402 people, mostly Iranians, died in riots during the 1987 pilgrimage to Mecca.

Relations were restored after the 1991 Gulf war, in which Iran remained neutral over Iraq's l990 invasion of Kuwait.

Recent signs of a further improvement include a plan to restore direct air links later this year and a 15 million US dollars industrial cooperation deal with Iran's largest economic conglomerate.

The growing role in foreign affairs of King Fahd's designated heir, Crown Prince Abdullah, led to the latest Saudi move towards a rapprochement with Iran, senior Gulf sources said on July 13.

They said he got on well with Iran's outgoing Presid Akbar Hashimi Rafsinjani and that there had been several exchanges taking place between the two men in recent months.

These included a chat on the sidelines of an Islamic summit in Pakistan in March which also touched on June 1996 bomb attack in the kingdom that killed 19 US airmen.

Abdullah had also invited Rafsinjani, who leaves office next month, to visit the kingdom, the sources said.

Riyadh has yet to disclose the outcome of its investigation into the bombing. It has not publicly accused anyone of the attack, but Gulf diplomats say there have been several hints of a least an indirect Iranian role.

Although hard-liners in the Saudi royal family appear to have been consulted, some influential princes wanted to see concrete changes by Tehran before fully opening the door to it.

A Gulf source said Abdullah's effort had come at a time when Washington appeared willing to reconsider its Iran containment policy, but only if Tehran was prepared to showed flexibility. "It is a big game involving many aspects, like close Syrian ties with Iran, rapprochement with Iraq... and number two (Abdullah) is behind it," said the source. "He is trying to bring about some change to say (to Washington) 'Iran is willing to move in a new direction.'"

To the surprise of many in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia sent Minister of State Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Khoweiter to Tehran in July with messages from King Fahd and the crown prince.

Gulf sources said the visit had appeared to enjoy some backing from both hard-line and moderate factions of the royal family—as the envoy was a longtime close aide to King Fahd.

But a senior Arab diplomat in Riyadh doubted the attempt to improve ties had reached the point whereby Riyadh was seeking to mediate between its Gulf neighbor, Tehran, and Washington.

A Western diplomat said, "Expressing US terms to Iran through Saudi or Kuwait is not the same as mediating."

He was referring to Washington's main demands for Tehran to abandon "terrorism," end objections to the Middle East peace process, and stop efforts to buy and develop arms and nuclear capabilities.

Iran has repeatedly denied these charges.

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