As the U.S. reflects on the legacy of former President Jimmy Carter, new details from a prominent Texas politician could upend the narrative surrounding one of the defining moments of his presidency: the Iran hostage crisis. According to reporting from The New York Times, former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes claims that a high-ranking member of Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign took him on a secret diplomatic tour of the Middle East in a bid to damage Carter’s re-election campaign by convincing Iran not to release its 52 American hostages until after the election.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has “welcomed” an invitation from King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia to visit the kingdom following the reconciliation agreement between the two countries, an Iranian official announced on March 19.

Arab leaders are offering Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a deal that includes billions of dollars for reconstruction efforts and a pledge to lobby the west to lift sanctions in exchange for "[asking] Iran to stop expanding its footprint in the nation," according to Arab and European officials that spoke with the Wall Street Journal.

In a surprising development last weekend, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore normal relations, reopen embassies in each other’s country, and reactivate security and trade agreements that have lain dormant.  The agreement has the potential to shake up both regional and global politics, but could also mean a lot less than it initially seems.

Eurasia’s geo-economic integration took a great leap forward as a result of the Iranian–Saudi rapprochement, which unlocks the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) trade potential with Russia and China. Its wealthy members can now tap into two series of Iranian-transiting megaprojects in one fell swoop through this deal, with the 

Israel’s former spymaster has called for his country to explore whether a rapprochement with Iran is possible following a dramatic breakthrough in relations between Tehran and Riyadh last week. 

China's efforts to broker improved relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have caught the US by surprise, with officials, and members of the Washington establishment, scrambling to brush off concerns that American influence in the region is waning.