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Quest for new balances in the Middle East
April 25, 2021Turkey’s neighborhood is experiencing a new wave of heightened diplomatic activity, as tensions over Ukraine’s Donbass region de-escalate following a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Turkey’s neighborhood is experiencing a new wave of heightened diplomatic activity, as tensions over Ukraine’s Donbass region de-escalate following a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Let me provide a brief summary of those developments here to get a better sense of the big picture.
The United States stopped supporting Saudi Arabia in Yemen and cleared the path for nuclear talks with Iran. There is speculation that Washington may gradually lift sanctions in return for Tehran’s pledge to stop nuclear enrichment. Let’s not forget a series of deals inked during the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Iran last month.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, also visited Cairo and Tehran earlier this month. Moscow, which held a joint naval exercise with Egypt in the Black Sea last November, strives to deepen its cooperation with that country. Lavrov’s visit to Tehran also served as a reminder to Washington that Russia’s role in the return to the nuclear deal. Those visits, which followed a round of talks with the Gulf states, signaled Moscow’s intention to play an active role in the new Middle East.
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