The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud will meet with Iranian officials Tehran, also suggesting the reopening of the Saudi embassy in Iran during the visit.
Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh on June 6, over seven years after closing down its diplomatic missions in the country. Alireza Enayati, who previously served as the Iranian ambassador to Kuwait, has been appointed as Tehran’s new ambassador to the Saudi capital.
The two countries announced in February that they were restoring ties after decades of bitter relations that culminated in severing their respective diplomatic missions in 2016. The agreement followed five rounds of talks in Beijing between top security officials of both countries.
The Chinese-brokered rapprochement followed two years of mediation from Iraq, with Baghdad previously hosting five rounds of talks beginning in 2021 between the regional powers which brought them closer to the final agreement reached in Beijing. Oman also mediated discussions.
The countries severed ties in 2016 when Iranian protestors attacked the Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran in retaliation to the kingdom’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Both countries 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.
