Thu 17 April 2025:
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Thursday, delivering a letter from King Salman, Saudi and Iranian state media reported.
During the meeting, Khamenei expressed support for closer ties between the two countries.
“We believe that relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia will be beneficial for both countries, and the two countries can complement each other,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
“It is much better for brothers in the region to cooperate and help each other than to rely on others,” he added.
Saudi state news agency SPA said “bilateral relations between the two countries were reviewed and issues and topics of common interest were discussed.”
The meeting marked the first time Khamenei has received a Saudi official since 2006, when then-Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal visited Tehran.
During his trip, Prince Khalid also met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Akbar Ahmadian, and chief of staff of the armed forces Mohammad Bagheri.
“Iran and Saudi Arabia can resolve many of the region’s problems by relying on their joint capacities and without the need for foreign intervention,” Pezeshkian said during his meeting with the Saudi defense chief, according to IRNA.
In March 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced that they had reached an agreement, brokered by China, to reestablish diplomatic relations after seven years of no formal ties. The Kingdom had severed ties with Iran in 2016 following attacks by pro-regime protesters on its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad.
In November, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, chief of staff of the Saudi armed forces, met with Bagheri in Tehran. The pair discussed the “development of defense diplomacy and the expansion of bilateral cooperation,” IRNA said at the time.
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“Maximum Pressure”
Trump’s “Maximum Pressure” campaign on Iran, reimposed in February 2025, aims to cripple Iran’s economy to force concessions on its nuclear program, ballistic missiles, and regional influence. It involves intense sanctions to drive Iran’s oil exports to zero, targeting financial sectors, shipping, and entities evading restrictions.
The policy, first launched in 2018 after Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA), seeks to deny Iran nuclear weapons and curb its support for proxy groups like the Houthis. While it severely impacted Iran’s economy, reducing reserves to $4 billion by 2020, critics argue it failed to alter Iran’s behavior, instead escalating tensions and nuclear activities.
Trump has expressed openness to diplomacy but insists Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. Iran resists, calling the policy a demand for surrender, not negotiation.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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