A rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran?
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Khatib Zada said today (Monday) that "Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kajimi has passed several 'points' from the Saudi side during his visit to Tehran."
According to him, the Saudi side is ready to raise the level of representation in the negotiations and set a date for the next round of talks.
The spokesman also noted that there are technical delegations that the countries will switch between in order to prepare for the opening of embassies.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed in 2016 amid protests by the Shiite minority in northern Saudi Arabia.
Against this background, Zada added at a press conference that "the Saudi side is ready to raise the level of representation in the talks and to continue them at a diplomatic level."
So far, there have been five rounds in which security officials from both sides were present.
Referring to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visits to Egypt, Jordan and Turkey last week, the spokesman said they had called on Saudi authorities not to make statements that contradicted what was said in closed meetings.
"There are disagreements between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but regardless of them - relations between the two countries are important to the entire Muslim world. We are following the process of negotiations with Saudi Arabia," said a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir 'Abd al-Lahian, last week, Photo: AFP
Just yesterday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir 'Abd al-Lahian stressed that his country supports the reopening of embassies in Riyadh and Tehran.
As you may recall, the fifth round of dialogue between the two countries was held in Baghdad last April.
The dialogue concerns, among other things, the war in Yemen, the Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia and the Shiites who make pilgrimages to the holy sites of Islam in Mecca and al-Madinah in Saudi Arabia.
These statements come after a secret meeting between senior Israeli and Arab military officials in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, was revealed in the Wall Street Journal yesterday.
According to the report, the meeting took place last March and included Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi and army chiefs from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Arab countries. It was also reported that the meeting dealt, among other things, with the threat of drones and missiles from Iran.
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