On Friday, Iran and Saudi Arabia both agreed to fix ties and reopen individual diplomatic missions after talks in China, seven years after relations were severed, state media in both countries reported. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic republic in 2016 following the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Following talks, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have agreed to resume diplomatic relations and reopen embassies and missions within two months.”
Iranian news agency-citing a joint statement.
The official Saudi Press Agency also published the statement.
Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, had traveled to China on Monday for “intensive negotiations with his Saudi counterpart in China to finally resolve the problems between Tehran and Riyadh”, IRNA added.
Shiite-majority Iran and Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia support rival sides in several conflict zones across the Middle East, including in Yemen where the Houthi rebels are backed by Tehran, and Riyadh leads a military coalition supporting the government.
Iraq had hosted several rounds of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia since April 2021. Those meetings were held at a relatively low level, involving security and intelligence officials.
In Friday’s statement, Iran and Saudi Arabia said they “thank the Republic of Iraq and the Sultanate of Oman for hosting the conversations kept between the two sides in 2021 and 2022 as well as the leaders and government of the China for hosting and supporting the discussions held in that country.”
