Swiss Play Role in Easing Tensions Between Saudi and Iran

Posted: November 10th, 2017

By Sigurd Neubauer

Sigurd Neubauer is a senior analyst at SOS International, a U.S. defense consultancy, and a Non-Resident Fellow at Gulf International Forum. His expertise includes U.S. policy towards the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf region, including: Oman; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Yemen; Persian Gulf security; inter-GCC dynamics; Arab-Israeli relations; NATO and transatlantic security. His work has appeared in numerous media outlets, including The Cipher Brief. Neubauer received his B.A. and M.A. from Yeshiva University in New York. Follow him on Twitter @SigiMideast..

The Swiss Foreign Ministry announced on Oct. 25 that it had reached an agreement with Riyadh and Tehran to represent Iranian consular interests in Saudi Arabia and Saudi consular interests in Iran. The landmark agreement, which was personally negotiated by Swiss Foreign Minister and Federal Councilor Didier Burkhalter, was first initiated in January 2016, only weeks after Saudi Arabia and Iran severed diplomatic relations and thereby threatened to destabilize the fragile region even further.

In the long-standing feud between Riyadh and Tehran over competing regional policies, this crisis erupted when Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shiite cleric Shaikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr on Jan. 2, 2016.

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