IRAN’S FOREIGN MINISTER ARRIVES IN RIYADH ON 1ST VISIT SINCE RESTORATION OF TIES

Thu 17 August 2023:

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived Thursday in Riyadh on his first trip to Saudi Arabia since a landmark rapprochement deal in March, Iranian state media reported.

Amir-Abdollahian “has arrived at Riyadh Airport a few minutes ago for a one-day trip, and was welcomed by the deputy foreign minister of Saudi Arabia,” according to official news agency IRNA.

Amir-Abdollahian will meet with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, at the foreign ministry headquarters, Al Arabiya reported.

Following their meeting that will address several topics such as the measures achieved since the reconciliation, a press conference will be held.

Saudi Arabia and Iran announced in March that they had reached an agreement, brokered by China, to reestablish diplomatic relations after seven years of no formal ties.

In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed in a China-brokered deal to end the diplomatic rift and reestablish relations following years of hostility that had endangered regional stability in the Persian Gulf, as well as in Yemen, Syria and Lebanon.

Under the deal signed in March, Riyadh and Tehran agreed to reopen embassies and consulates in each other’s territories and implement security and economic cooperation agreements that were signed over 20 years ago.

Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran in 2016 following an attack by pro-regime protesters on its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad.

The official Iranian government news agency IRNA reported that Iran’s first ambassador in more than seven years accompanies the foreign minister. Earlier this week Amir-Abdollahian announced that the Saudi ambassador will soon arrive in Tehran and the two embassies are already staffed.

The United States has been engaged in an effort to normalize ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel to expand the Abraham Accords launched under the Trump administration in 2020, when the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, close Saudi allies, established ties with Israel.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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