Dialogue shows the way to peace

News that Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to confront all attempts to spread sectarian strife in the region comes as a ray of hope in the troubled area.

Merciless inter-Palestinian shootings, killings by Sunni and Shiite death squads in Iraq and a long political crisis in Lebanon, along sectarian lines, have deepened fears that unprecedented conflict will erupt in the volatile Middle East.

But now Saudi Arabia and Iran, the most influential nations in their respective branches of Islam, have agreed that dialogue and common stances are the best options to ensure that civil wars do not propagate and that the nation remains united.

For months, relations between the two powerhouses in the region were tense and uneasy. Saudi Arabia has been cautious about Iran's growing influence in Iraq run by a mainly Shiite government, in Lebanon thanks to Hezbollah and in Palestine through Hamas.

But the ominous stand-off, fuelled by the Bush administration, on the assumption that a divided Muslim world cannot question Washington's biased support to Israel and will not stand against its plans for the region, spelled unfathomable problems for the two countries and the region.

By making the visit to Riyadh, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has taken a crucial step to defuse sectarian tensions and help ease the pressure on his country.

Three hours were sufficient to build new bridges of confidence between the two countries and foster a common initiative to find a workable solution for the situation in Lebanon and to defuse tension on the Iraqi front.

For the common man in the Muslim street, the accord between the two countries constitutes a much-needed factor of stability and peace.

The success of the visit is a new indication that when they work together, Muslims can go a long way to assert their peaceful co-existence in the face of dangerous conflicts.