After seven years of severed diplomatic relations, the China-brokered renormalization deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia, signed on March 10, marked a major breakthrough in the Middle East’s shift toward de-escalation between regional rivals. Nearly six months later, the Iranian-Saudi détente remains on track.

Last month, Iran’s chief diplomat, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, met with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, or MbS, in Jeddah and invited him to Tehran. Then on September 5, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Iran, Abdullah Alanazi, who was previously the Kingdom’s ambassador to Oman, arrived in Tehran. That same day, Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alireza Enayati, who previously served as the Islamic Republic’s Kuwait envoy, arrived in Riyadh. Such developments speak to both sides’ interest in further improving bilateral ties.

As Ambassador Alanazi put it, Saudi officials recognize the “importance of strengthening ties, increasing engagement…and taking the [relationship] to broader horizons.”

Tehran and Riyadh did not sign the diplomatic agreement in Beijing after almost two years of Iraqi- and Omani-facilitated mediation out of mutual love. Instead, the deal resulted from their respective interests in détente at a particular time. Ultimately, hostilities between the two regional powers over the past decade were not serving either side. Rather than continuing down the path of steadily mounting tension, Tehran and Riyadh both saw a “cold peace” as their best option, albeit for different reasons.