BAGDAD – Several Middle Eastern leaders and French President Emmanuel Macron met on Saturday in Baghdad at a summit hosted by Iraq, a country on which regional rivalries have spilled over and over in recent years. Competition for influence in the Middle East between Iran on the one hand and the United States, Israel and the Arab Gulf states on the other has made Iraq the scene of attacks on US forces and the killings of Iranian paramilitary leaders. and Iraqis. Tense relations within the region have also led to disruptions in global oil supplies with attacks on oil installations in Saudi Arabia, accused but denied by Tehran.
Blinken: “US-Italy pact to strengthen democracies against autocrats”
by Maurizio Molinari
In Baghdad, representatives of Iran and Saudi Arabia found themselves seated side by side after years of rivalry. As well as those of Qatar and Egypt. The Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein he said during the final press conference that Iran and Saudi Arabia, which started direct talks in Iraq in April, are continuing their meetings and hoping for “positive results”: but did not provide further details. The organizers of the Baghdad summit said they did not expect any diplomatic breakthroughs. “Getting these countries to sit around the table – it will be successful enough,” an Iraqi government official said before the start.
Among the heads of state present were the Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, he re Abdallah of Jordan, the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Macron himself. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have sent their heads of government and Turkey its foreign minister. Macron then met with Iraqi leaders and visited the French special forces fighting the rebels of the Islamic State: the French president reiterated that Paris has no intention of withdrawing from Iraq, whatever the choice of the United States may be in the future.
What if America is no longer a leader
at Timothy Garton Ash
Rivalry between the US and Iran brought the Middle East to the brink of war after the US under former US president killed Iranian military mastermind Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad airport in 2020 Iranian-backed militias have launched increasingly sophisticated drone and rocket attacks against US forces stationed in Iraq and have also fired drones in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of attacks on its oil installations, a charge Tehran denies.
But in recent months the arrival of the United States presidency of Joe Biden – bearer of a regional political line very different from that of Donald Trump, very close to Saudi Arabia and hard on Iran – and the Covid crisis, with the economic damage it has generated, have contributed to a change of scenery.