Saudi Arabia could invest in Iran ‘very quickly’: Finance minister
Saudi Arabia could start making investments in Iran “very quickly” after they agreed to restore diplomatic ties, the Saudi finance minister said on Wednesday.
Mohammed al-Jadaan said there were “a lot of opportunities” in Iran and that he couldn’t see any reason to prevent investments taking place between the two Persian Gulf heavyweights.
“I would say quickly,” he told the Financial Sector Conference in Riyadh, when asked how soon Saudi Arabia could start making “significant” investments in Iran.
“When people really stick to the principles of what was agreed, I think that that could happen very quickly.”
In a Chinese-brokered announcement on Friday, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to work toward restoring ties and reopening diplomatic missions within two months.
The oil-rich regional powers severed relations in 2016 after Saudi’s execution of a Shia cleric triggered protests in Iran.
Iran has been under renewed US sanctions since then president Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear agreement between Tehran and major powers in 2018. Saudi Arabia said at the time it had supported the sanctions, which target key areas, including oil.
But al-Jadaan said: “There is no reason for (investments) not to happen. I mean, Iran is our neighbor and has been and will continue to be for hundreds of years. So I don’t see any issue that would prevent the normalization of the relationship across investments... as long as we stick to the agreement, you know, respecting sovereign rights, not interfering in other affairs.”
He added: “I think that there are a lot of opportunities in Iran, and we provide a lot of opportunities for them.”