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President Joe Biden entered office promising to return the U.S. to the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the JCPOA. But doing so has proven tricky for Biden’s administration, in part because of the complex politics surrounding the deal in both Washington and Tehran, but also because of the tense relations between the two countries, which soured significantly under Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.

As two of the largest and most influential nations in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran play critical roles in shaping regional relations and policies, including those related to climate change.

The U.S. and Europe are poorly positioned compared to China to engage in diplomacy to bridge the Middle East’s security divides. But there is a diplomatic initiative they could pursue that would reassert their relevance and address a key issue that is in desperate need of attention in the region: the threat of climate change.