This is the first visit by a Saudi official to Tehran in more than seven years.
Tehran, Iran – Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has arrived in Tehran as Iran and the kingdom continue to develop relations after re-establishing formal diplomatic ties in March.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has welcomed his Saudi counterpart ahead of bilateral talks and a press conference scheduled for later Saturday.
The Saudi minister may also have a meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who has just finished a tour of Latin America.
Amirabdollahian and bin Farhan had last met in early June in South Africa on the sidelines of a meeting of BRICS, the economic bloc made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
But this is the first visit by a Saudi official to Iran since 2016, when Riyadh severed diplomatic ties after its diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad were attacked following the execution of a Shiite religious leader in Arabia Saudi
Tehran and Riyadh had agreed to reopen their embassies within two months as part of a Chinese-brokered deal signed in Beijing on March 10, but while diplomatic relations have been restored, the reopening of the buildings the embassy has proved more difficult.
Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh on June 6, followed by its consulate general in Jeddah and its mission to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) a day later.
Tehran has reportedly selected Alireza Enayati, a former envoy to Kuwait and deputy for regional affairs at the foreign ministry, as its ambassador to the kingdom. But Enayati was absent from the reopening ceremony and Iran has not confirmed that he has started work at the embassy in Riyadh.
The Iranian embassy was inaugurated by Alireza Bigdeli, Deputy Foreign Minister of Consular Affairs, who said: “We are witnessing the opening of a new chapter in bilateral and regional relations.”
Meanwhile, it is unclear when the Saudi embassy will reopen. Amirabdollahian had previously said that Saudi Arabia had selected an ambassador to Tehran, but that the kingdom has yet to publicly confirm his identity.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that a Saudi team has been operating from a luxury hotel in the Iranian capital for weeks as both sides work to officially reopen the embassy buildings.
The Saudi foreign minister’s visit to Tehran comes a week after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Riyadh for high-level talks.
Shortly thereafter, it was confirmed that Iraq has been able to pay off a sizeable $2.7 billion of its debts to Iran arising from the importation of natural gas.
The United States had previously blocked money from sanctions it unilaterally imposed on Iran following President Donald Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. Washington has said the funds can only be used ” for humanitarian and other non-sanctionable transactions”.
Some of the money went to the expenses of Iranian pilgrims attending the Hajj in Saudi Arabia, while 80 million euros ($87 million) was sent to the Iranian mission at the Islamic Development Bank based in Jeddah
Meanwhile, media reports indicate that Iran and the US have held indirect talks in Oman aimed at reducing tensions, which could lead to outcomes on Tehran’s nuclear program, a prisoner exchange and the release of frozen Iranian funds.
At the same time, the deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia has begun to reduce tensions in the region, including in Yemen, where the two had backed opposing sides in the devastating war. Tehran-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was welcomed back into the Arab League last month. Saudi Arabia, along with several other Arab states, had thrown their weight behind the opposition in Syria.
