Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to meet soon

23 March 2023


Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Hossein Amir Abdollahian discussed the normalization of relations between the countries by phone and agreed to hold a bilateral meeting, the Saudi Press Agency reported Thursday.

 

"At the beginning of the conversation, the two sides exchanged congratulations on the Holy month of Ramadan. The ministers agreed to meet soon to discuss the preparations for opening embassies and consulates of the two countries," the agency said in a statement.

 

Earlier, Abdollahian said he planned to meet with his Saudi counterpart on neutral territory. According to him, Tehran offered Riyadh three countries that could organize their meeting.

 

On March 10, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies within two months. Representatives of the two countries negotiated for several days in Beijing, which resulted in a trilateral statement.

 

Relations between Riyadh and Tehran deteriorated in March 2015 with the start of the Saudi-led coalition military operation in Yemen against the Ansar Allah (Houthis) movement. In January 2016, after the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad were attacked by crowds of protesters outraged by the execution in Riyadh of prominent Shiite preacher Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the kingdom broke off diplomatic relations with Iran.

 

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic world"

Based on materials from TASS