ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran and Saudi Arabia are seeking to open respective consulates of their countries in the cities of Jeddah and Mashhad, Iran’s foreign minister said Friday, as the regional rivals take strides to normalize relations following five rounds of talks in Baghdad.
“We believe if the other side will have a serious will, normalizing of relations will take place in the very near future,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a presser in Beirut, urging for negotiations between Tehran and Riyadh to continue and saying the reopening of consulates will be the first step of restoring ties.
The Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran have had rocky relations since 1979, when Shiite revolutionaries came to power in Iran and pledged to export their revolution to the world, including Gulf countries.
The two countries severed ties in 2016 when Iranian protestors attacked the Saudi diplomatic mission in Tehran in retaliation to the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
Amir-Abdollahian also said that Iran is “both ready and seriously willing to normalize ties” with Saudi Arabia despite Riyadh not yet sharing the same sentiment.
Both nations have also supported opposing forces in several conflict zones across the region, most notably in Yemen, where Iran backs the Houthi rebels while Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition supporting the government.
In July, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced that Tehran and Riyadh had agreed to hold the first public meeting in years at the level of foreign ministers in Baghdad after five rounds of Iraqi-mediated talks.
However, the top diplomat said at the time that additional details for the upcoming meeting were unavailable.
The two rivals held the first round of reconciliation talks in April 2021 in Baghdad.
“We believe if the other side will have a serious will, normalizing of relations will take place in the very near future,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a presser in Beirut, urging for negotiations between Tehran and Riyadh to continue and saying the reopening of consulates will be the first step of restoring ties.
The Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran have had rocky relations since 1979, when Shiite revolutionaries came to power in Iran and pledged to export their revolution to the world, including Gulf countries.
The two countries severed ties in 2016 when Iranian protestors attacked the Saudi diplomatic mission in Tehran in retaliation to the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
Amir-Abdollahian also said that Iran is “both ready and seriously willing to normalize ties” with Saudi Arabia despite Riyadh not yet sharing the same sentiment.
Both nations have also supported opposing forces in several conflict zones across the region, most notably in Yemen, where Iran backs the Houthi rebels while Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition supporting the government.
In July, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced that Tehran and Riyadh had agreed to hold the first public meeting in years at the level of foreign ministers in Baghdad after five rounds of Iraqi-mediated talks.
However, the top diplomat said at the time that additional details for the upcoming meeting were unavailable.
The two rivals held the first round of reconciliation talks in April 2021 in Baghdad.
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