Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to normalize relations

10 March 2023


Authorities of Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to normalize relations between the two countries and plan to open embassies within two months. This was reported by the Tasnim news agency on Friday.

 

According to its information, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani and his Saudi counterpart held talks in Beijing for several days. As a result, a trilateral statement was adopted. Tehran and Riyadh agreed to resume diplomatic relations and reopen embassies within a maximum of two months.

 

"Following the talks, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have decided to restore diplomatic relations and open embassies and representative bodies within two months," the agency quoted the text of the statement as saying.

 

According to the document, the final agreement to normalize relations was reached at the initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping and with the mediation of Oman and Iraq, which became a negotiating platform for Tehran and Riyadh in April 2021.


"The two countries are committed to the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, and are committed to implementing the security treaty signed on April 17, 2001, and the agreement on cooperation in trade, economy, culture, science and technology signed on May 27, 1998," the statement said.

 

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia

 

Relations between Riyadh and Tehran deteriorated in March 2015 with the start of the Saudi-led coalition's military operation in Yemen against the Ansar Allah (Houthis) movement. In January 2016, after the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the 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.



Dialogue between the two regional powers resumed in April 2021 following a conciliatory initiative by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazimi. Since then, five rounds of talks have taken place in Baghdad. According to Rudaw TV, the bilateral meetings in the Iraqi capital were supervised by Ali Shamkhani and Lieutenant General Khalid bin Ali al-Humeidan, the Saudi kingdom's chief of general intelligence.


In early February, the current head of the Iraqi government, Mohammed al-Sudani, announced that a new round of talks should be held in Baghdad in the near future.

 

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic world"

Based on materials from TASS