What s the point of staying? : Gulf faces expatriate exodus
Gulf SHARE
DUBAI/RIYADH: A popular Saudi talk show host told private businesses this week it was their national duty to lay off foreign rather than local employees, warning that the dominance of Saudi Arabia’s workforce by expatriates was a “real danger”.
Khaled al-Oqaily’s comments on his daily TV show encapsulated the dilemma faced by 35 million foreigners who form the Gulf’s economic backbone: as firms shed jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic and oil price crash, and governments move to protect citizens’ jobs and wages, should they stay or go?
Six years ago Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his father, King Salman, shifted traditionally cautious Saudi Arabia to an aggressive foreign policy confronting Iran and its proxies, including, crucially, in neighboring Yemen.
But in an interview on Saudi state TV this week, Crown Prince Mohammed called for the two nations to overcome differences that have divided the region. âWe do not want Iranâs situation to be difficult. On the contrary, we want Iran to grow and prosper,â the crown prince said.
Why We Wrote This
The Saudi-Iran rivalry that has shaped the Middle East may be moving from a not-so-cold war of proxy battles to a cool peace where cooperation is possible. The region stands to benefit.
Even if Iran does get rid of its new stockpiles and downgrade its enrichment activities, its nuclear threat will not recede to the level achieved by the 2015 deal.
Tara Kavaler
Unless Tehran transforms its foreign policy, any rapprochement will be marginal, experts say
Significant improvement in the relationship between Riyadh and Tehran remains a distant possibility, despite a change in approach by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman toward Iran and clandestine meetings between the rival nations’ representatives in Iraq, analysts say.
Appearing on Saudi television on Tuesday, Prince Mohammed, commonly known as MbS, did, however, take a different approach than in the past.
“In the end, Iran is a neighboring country; we all aspire to establish a good and distinguished relationship with Iran,” he said.
The interview falls in the context of unpublicized meetings between Saudi Arabia and Iran in Iraq, which began on April 9, according to the Financial Times.
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