in Baghdad, Crown Prince Abdallah permitted the media to videotape his meeting with some of the opponents of Saddam Hussein. In spite of this, the Saudi leadership opposed the U.S. plan to invade Iraq in 2003 and did not join the Coalition. Their fears and warnings that Iraq would fracture along sectarian and political lines proved accurate. What was worse for Saudi Arabia was the strengthening of the Shi'ites in Iraq, seen as Iran's proxy. This drew the Iranian threat much larger for the Kingdom. Iraq, as a result of being now ruled by Shi'ites, have chosen Iran over Saudi Arabia as their closer ally. In 2009, Iraq named Ghanim Al-Jumaily its first post-Gulf War ambassador to Saudi Arabia. In January 2012, Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari stated that Saudi Arabia had named its first ambassador to Iraq since 1990. Fahd Abdul Mohsen Al-Zaid, the Kingdom's ambassador to Jordan, would serve as non-resident ambassador flying regularly from Amman to Baghdad. In 2014, former Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki stated that Saudi Arabia and Qatar started the civil wars in Iraq and Syria, and incited and encouraged terrorist movements, like ISIS and al-Qaeda, supporting them politically and in the media, with money and by buying weapons for them. Saudi Arabia denied the accusations which were criticised by the country, the Carnegie Middle East Center and the Royal United Services Institute. On February 25, 2017, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir visited Iraq – the first such visit by a Saudi foreign minister since 1990. In August 2017, it was reported that the border crossing between Iraq and Saudi Arabia would be reopened. This would be the first time the border was open after approximately 27 years. On March 25, 2021, Saudi Arabia and Iraq held talks through a video call discussing the relations between the two countries and stressing on the importance of boosting the cooperation on regional and international issues. See also Foreign relations of Iraq Foreign relations of Saudi Arabia Iraqis in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia–United States relations Shia–Sunni relations References History of Saudi Arabia's relations with Iraq Saudi Arabia Bilateral relations of Saudi Arabia