(CNN) — The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, on Wednesday, that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan made a phone call to his Iranian counterpart, Hussein Amir Abdullahian.
The ministry added, in a statement reported by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA): “At the beginning of the call, the two sides exchanged congratulations and blessings on the occasion of the blessed month of Ramadan, and the two ministers agreed to hold a bilateral meeting between them soon, in order to pave the way for the reopening of embassies and consulates between the two countries.”
The Iranian foreign minister had said, in statements reported by the Iranian News Agency (IRNA), on Sunday evening: “We will meet in the near future with the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, and so far, we have agreed that the technical teams will inspect the embassies of the two countries and their consulates, in a way that allows us to prepare for the return of open the embassies.
The Iranian minister said, “We conducted 5 rounds of negotiations with the Saudi side in Baghdad, and during Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi’s visit to Beijing, the Chinese president’s initiative was put forward, which was welcomed by the leaders of Iran and Saudi Arabia.”
In response to a question about the possibility of raising the level of relations, following the agreement between Tehran and Riyadh, with Bahrain, the Iranian foreign minister explained: “The Sultan of Oman launched an initiative on resuming relations between Iran and Bahrain,” during Abdullahian’s recent visit to Muscat; He added that about two months ago, a preliminary agreement was reached through this initiative regarding the visit of two technical teams from Iran and Bahrain to inspect the embassies of the two countries, according to (IRNA).
It is noteworthy that Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Tehran in January 2016, after the attack on the Kingdom’s embassy and consulate in Iran, amid Iranian protests against Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
And the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran and China recently announced that they had reached an agreement, in Beijing, to resume diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran and reopen their embassies and representations within a maximum period of two months, according to a joint statement of the three countries.
