ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian departed for Riyadh on Thursday, his first visit since ties were restored in a landmark rapprochement in March, Iranian media reported.
“The visit is taking place at the invitation of Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, in response to his visit to Tehran and with the aim of facilitating and speeding up the implementation process of the agreement between the two countries last March in Beijing,” Tasnim news agency said.
The Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran severed ties in 2016 when Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi diplomatic mission 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.
A Chinese-brokered deal in March saw both countries reconcile and restore diplomatic relations around seven years after ties were cut.
In June, Farhan visited Tehran, marking the first time a top Saudi diplomat visited Iran since tensions soared between the two countries. The visit came after Tehran reopened its embassy in Riyadh.
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.
Iran and Saudi Arabia have been on opposing sides in various conflicts in the Middle East, including Syria, Lebanon, and most notably Yemen. In recent months, both countries have been pushing for peace talks in Yemen between the Saudi-backed government and Iranian-backed Houthi forces.
The US also continues to push for normalization of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, Iran’s main regional rival. Such a move could potentially harm Saudi-Iranian relations.
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