Iran has appointed an ambassador to Saudi Arabia as part of the rapprochement between the two countries after more than seven years of rupture, state media said Wednesday. The Islamic Republic "has appointed senior diplomat Alireza Enayati as its new ambassador to Saudi Arabia," the government's English-language Iran Daily reported.
This appointment has not been officially announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Tehran and Riyadh, heavyweights in the Middle East, broke off relations in 2016 after protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, following Riyadh's execution of an influential Shiite cleric. Enayati is currently deputy foreign minister after serving as ambassador to Kuwait during the presidency of moderate Hassan Rouhani.
Reconciliation underway
Iran and Saudi Arabia sealed on March 10, through China, an agreement to reopen their embassies and implement economic and security cooperation agreements signed more than 20 years ago. After a historic meeting between their top diplomats in Beijing in April, the two countries sent diplomatic delegations to prepare for the reopening of diplomatic missions in Riyadh and Tehran.
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The reconciliation is to be celebrated on the occasion of an upcoming visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Saudi Arabia. For its part, Tehran says it has invited King Salman of Saudi Arabia to visit Iran. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the two countries clashed on many regional issues, sometimes supporting rival camps as in Syria, Lebanon or Yemen.
