After a quarter of a century of tensions, Saudi Arabia is moving to normalize its relations with Iraq. The improvement in relations between the two countries gradually began with the visit of Iraqi President Fouad Massoum to the Kingdom in November 2014. In addition, the fight against radical movements in the Middle East, including ISIS, became a common denominator of the two countries.

Now, Saudi Arabia is making arrangements (Arabic link) to reopen its embassy in Iraq after a 25-year break in relations between the two countries. The Saudi foreign ministry recently sent a delegation to visit Iraq make arrangements for the opening of the embassy in Baghdad and a consulate in Erbil in coordination with the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.

Saudi Arabia closed its embassy in Baghdad in 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The last three decades were characterized by cold bilateral relations between the two. The situation lasted until the Saudis took note of Iranian moves to dominate the decision-making process in Baghdad through their ally, former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Maliki is known to be a “blind” supporter of Iran and worked throughout his leadership to increase sectarianism by marginalizing Iraq’s Sunni population. He also strengthened ties to Iran, increasing the isolation of Iraq from Sunni Arab states.

Commentators in the Arab world believe that the new Saudi move is intended to correct the error made by ignoring Iraq’s rapprochement with iran and is part of a wider Arab plan to break the isolation of Iraq and reconcile it with its traditional Arab allies.

In this context, Abdullah al-Askar, head of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Saudi Shura Council, told the Al-Arab (Arabic link) newspaper that Riyadh’s move will help in restoring Iraq to be a central member of the Arab nation “after an absence since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the penetration of the Iranian regime into the state’s arteries.”

In recent months senior officials from other Arab countries and from Baghdad visited each other. Analysts believe that Saudi Arabia now seeks to balance the Baghdad-Tehran relations with Baghdad-Riyadh ties, so that Iraq will not fall permanently under the influence of Tehran. “It is time to restore Iraq to the bosom of the Arabs and to reduce Iranian influence,” said Iraqi analyst Mustafa al-Aani (Arabic link).

Saudi Arabia is one of the main members in the international coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. It fears that actions of this terror group, has taken over large areas in Iraq, will spillover into its territory.

The Saudi diplomatic move comes after the takeover of large areas in Iraq by ISIS and other extremist organizations, making these areas safe haven to terrorists, including Saudi extremists. This takeover constitutes a danger to the security of the Saudi kingdom because of the long common border between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia is also working to fortify the border with Iraq. It has been stressed several times that the border area is safe, but Saudis fear penetration by extremist organizations into Saudi territory. Saudi Arabia sees possible threats from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other groups, including Iran-backed Shiite militias in the region.

In How Iraq Became a Proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was published in the December 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, Jonathan Spyer and Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi outline how Iran’s control of Iraq poses a threat not just to the independence of Iraq, but to the Sunni world at large.

Due to the security situation in Iraq, the Shia militias will be necessary for the foreseeable future in the fight against the Islamic State. It is also highly unlikely that these militias will simply disband even if told to do so. Thus, it is worth assessing the implications of their rise to prominence and power.

First, it demonstrates the extent to which Iran considers the government of Iraq a client or proxy regime; one that Tehran will not allow to develop its own powerful, independent institutions and military. The government in Baghdad, like the regime in Damascus, is to be saved from those who would destroy it, but only in such a way that its future is to be an instrument of Iran’s will. The Iranians’ innovative use of sectarian militia power and the cultivation of a variety of paramilitary clients ensures that, if they get their way, no Iraqi government will be in a position to disobey them.

Moreover, Iran’s role in Iraq is clearly part of its desire—tracing back to the regime’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini—to spread its ideology throughout the Shia population of the Middle East. What this means is that, while the new sectarian military formation being developed by the Iranians in Iraq is likely to prove sufficient to stem the advance of the overstretched I.S. forces, they are also part of Tehran’s larger regional strategy to produce a contiguous line of pro-Iran states between the Iran-Iraq border and the Mediterranean Sea.

The fragmentation of Iraq and Syria may well thwart that ambition. But Iran has shown that its practice of creating and utilizing proxy political and military forces as a key instrument of policy is sufficient to defend its own interests—if not always to entirely defeat or destroy its Sunni enemies. The Quds Force is now proving this once again in Iraq.

[Photo:  United States Forces Iraq / Flickr]