During the meeting, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri emphasized the positive trajectory of bilateral ties, stating that strengthened relations between the two nations and their military establishments would “bring despair and hopelessness to our enemies and joy to our friends.”

Bagheri also expressed appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s role as an observer in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) Maritime Exercise, IMEX 2024. The joint naval drill was held in the Indian Ocean with participation from Iran, Russia, and Oman, alongside observer delegations from several countries including Saudi Arabia, India, Thailand, Pakistan, Qatar, and Bangladesh.

Highlighting progress since the normalization of diplomatic ties, Bagheri noted that military relations between Tehran and Riyadh have steadily developed following the Beijing Agreement signed in March 2023, which marked the restoration of diplomatic relations after years of tensions.

The visit by Prince Khalid signals a continued thaw in relations and growing defense dialogue between the two regional powers, as both sides seek to strengthen stability and cooperation across the Middle East.

The International Maritime Exercise 2022 (IMX 22) includes around 60 countries and comes amid heightened Gulf tensions after missile attacks on the United Arab Emirates by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, including a foiled attack aimed at a base hosting U.S. forces.

Israel normalised relations with Gulf states the UAE and Bahrain in 2020, brought together by shared worries about Iran, and first held a joint naval drill with those two countries in November.

But this is the first time Israel has participated in an IMX exercise, and publicly alongside Saudi Arabia with which it has no diplomatic ties.

Gulf neighbours Kuwait and Qatar, who also have no formal relations with Israel, did not participate, according to U.S. Navy information.

Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet’s headquarters as well as some operations for CENTCOM, a U.S. military coordination umbrella organisation for the Middle East. Israel last year was included in CENTCOM.

A U.S. Navy spokesperson on Wednesday said exercise planners were aware of the geopolitical context of participating countries, but cooperation had been high.

“Here in the region we have had nothing but positive results in terms of planning efforts,” he said.

The Israeli Defence Force said on Monday that some units would participate in the Red Sea exercise with the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

“For the past few months Israel has been exercising not only with us but other partner nations in this region,” Fifth Fleet spokesperson Tim Hawkins told reporters on Wednesday.

In its seventh year, IMX 22 began on Monday from the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and will cover the Arabian Gulf, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and North Indian Ocean.