SEPADPod Special: The Saudi-Iranian Normalisation Agreement

Richardson Institute

On this episode of SEPADPod - the first (that we are aware of) to bring Saudi and Iranian scholars together - Simon speaks with Banafsheh Keynoush and Aziz Alghashian about recent diplomatic developments between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Banafsheh is a scholar of international affairs who has conducted fieldwork in the Middle East for two decades, including in Saudi Arabia and Iran. She is the author of Saudi Arabia and Iran: Friends or Foes? (Palgrave, 2016) and The World Powers and Iran: Before, During and After the Nuclear Deal (Palgrave, 2022). She is on twitter @banafshehkeynoush. Aziz is a Saudi researcher who is fascinated with the elusively of Saudi foreign policy. He obtained a PhD from the University of Essex in 2019 where he taught International Relations, and Politics and Middle Eastern Studies for several years. He is on twitter @azizalghashian. On this episode, Simon, Banafsheh and Aziz talk offer a critical reflection on the normalisation agreement, the drivers of the agreement, how it was received in both countries, the US role, and the importance of scholars and civil society actors in helping transform perceptions of the other. Truly not to be missed.