The announcement was surprising yet expected. “While many in Washington will view China’s emerging role as mediator in the Middle East as a threat, the reality is that a more stable Middle East where the Iranians and Saudis aren’t at each other’s throats also benefits the United States,” Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Washington-based Quincy Institute, tweeted Friday. “China is now the godfather of this agreement and given China’s strategic importance to Iran, that holds tremendous weight,” Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst familiar with the Saudi leadership’s thinking, told CNN