Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday he was positive about the way the incoming US administration wanted to restore American influence in the world, contain Iran and fight Islamic State (IS). Al-Jubeir told reporters in Paris, “We are optimistic about the incoming administration and look forward to working with it in all areas that are a concern for both of us.” According to Reuters, al-Jubeir said the interests of the world’s largest oil exporter were aligned with those of the US, be it geopolitically – in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran – or on energy and financial issues. “The objectives we want to achieve are the same. We may have disagreements on how to get there, but we don’t disagree on what needs to be done, and that will not change,” he said. Relations with Iran worsened after hundreds of people, many of them Iranians, died in a stampede in the annual Haj pilgrimage in 2015. Iran blamed the disaster on organisers’ incompetence and boycotted last year’s Haj.
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