“We support any effort to de-escalate tensions there,” White House spokesman John Kirby said of the agreement, which reestablishes diplomatic relations between the arch-nemeses for the first time in seven years and reopens their respective embassies. Saudi Arabia, whose longtime partnership with Washington has soured since the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by associates of the kingdom’s crown prince, applauded Beijing’s involvement in an open press event featuring a three-way handshake between China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi; Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary, Ali Shamkhani; and the national security adviser of Saudi Arabia, Musaad bin Mohammed Al Aiban. ”Though blunting China’s influence in the Middle East and other parts of the world remains a priority for the Biden administration, it is of “two minds” about the latest agreement, said Jon Alterman, a Middle East scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies