Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani announced, on Monday, that his country’s President Ibrahim Raisi had sent, in a letter, an invitation to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz to visit Iran.
Kanani said, in his weekly press conference: “We received an invitation from King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia to President Ibrahim Raisi to visit his country, while Raisi invited him in a letter to visit Iran,” according to the official Iranian News Agency (IRNA).
He added, “We expect that mutual visits by officials of the two countries, including at the level of foreign ministers, will take place soon, and we will witness the exchange of joint delegations with the completion of the implementation steps that await us within the framework of implementing two comprehensive agreements between the two countries in the field of economic, trade, cultural, sports and security cooperation.”
A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that the agreement, which was signed in Beijing between the foreign ministries of the two sides, “is proceeding well and at an acceptable speed.”
He explained that, according to the agreement, the two sides are scheduled to reopen the embassies and consulates of the two countries within two months of holding the first meeting, that is, on May 9.
He said, “Fortunately, we have taken good positive steps in implementing this agreement, and technical and preparatory teams visited the two countries and are doing their work well, and we had good talks and very good facilities were provided to the two parties, and we are progressing well in the implementation process.”
He added, “Political relations between the two countries have been established directly, and we can say that political relations between the two countries have been activated, and we do not have any ambiguous issues or obstacles in this direction, especially since the Hajj season is ahead of us.”
Regarding the position of the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Syria’s return to the Arab League, Kanaani said: “We are happy about the positive and hopeful trend that we are witnessing with regard to the return of regional, Arab and Islamic parties to Damascus and diplomatic measures to resume bilateral relations between these countries and Syria.”
He stated that his country “has always stressed the need to start this process from the past years because we believed that the departure of some Arab countries from Damascus and the severing of relations with them or the suspension of Syria’s membership was a wrong act accompanied by wrong calculations, so the current situation is promising and moving in the right direction.” Establishing “official and constructive” relations between Syria and the countries of the region.
In a related context, the Director General of Gulf Affairs at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ali Reza Enayati, said that the Iranian and Saudi embassies in Riyadh and Tehran will reopen on May 9, and the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers will meet during this period.
Regarding the Iranian President’s visit to Saudi Arabia and the date of the visit, he said: “We received an invitation from the Saudi monarch, and the President of the Republic responded positively to this invitation, and we hope that the visit will take place at a date decided by the Office of the Presidency of the Republic.”
He said, “This visit will contribute to strengthening relations between the two countries and diversifying the fields of cooperation between them. It will be an important visit and will have a very positive impact on strengthening bilateral relations.”
