Holding the fifth round of talks on normalizing relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia is on the agenda of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Islamic Republic Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday, IRNA news agency reported. According to him, "preparations are underway for the next round of bilateral contacts to be held in Baghdad."
"Iran strives for good relations with Saudi Arabia despite existing disagreements on a number of regional issues," the Iranian diplomat said.
In a January 6 interview with Qatar's Al Jazeera TV channel, Islamic Republic Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian noted that the Iranian-Saudi dialogue is constructive. According to him, "Tehran is ready to normalize relations with Riyadh at any time".
The head of Iranian diplomacy said that the result of bilateral contacts at the end of 2021 would be the return of Iran's representative to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah in the near future. He also spoke in favor of holding a quadrilateral conference with the participation of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey on topical regional issues.
Visits to Oman and China
According to IRNA, Abdollahian arrived in Muscat on Monday, where he will hold talks with his Omani counterpart Badr bin Hamad bin Hamoud al-Busaidi. In a statement to reporters at the airport, the Iranian foreign minister said he would discuss in Muscat the prospects for implementing the agreement signed in Ashgabat in 2011 on the creation of an international transport and transit corridor between Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The Iranian foreign minister is scheduled to visit Beijing by the end of the week. An official spokesman for the Islamic Republic's Foreign Ministry said Monday that the main topic of the talks will be to discuss the Iran-China agreement "on political, strategic and economic cooperation." The document was signed on March 27, 2021, in Tehran, and has a 25-year duration.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Based on materials from TASS