2023-08-17 07:45:41
On his first official visit to Saudi Arabia since the resumption of relations between the two countries in March, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian will arrive in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Thursday, state media announced.
Iranian state television, IRIB, said the one-day visit “will focus on bilateral relations and regional and international issues.”
Early on Thursday, the television reported that Abdollahian “will leave Tehran for Riyadh within a few hours.”
Riyadh severed its relations with Tehran in 2016, following demonstrators attacked its embassy in the Iranian capital and its consulate in the city of Mashhad, in protest once morest Riyadh’s execution of the prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr.
However, the two countries agreed to resume diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies following a rupture that ended in a sudden agreement reached with Chinese mediation, last March.
On June 6, Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh, in a flag-raising ceremony. Tehran appointed Ali Enayati, its former ambassador to Kuwait, as its new ambassador to Riyadh.
Abdullahian said this week that Enayati would accompany him on his trip to Saudi Arabia “to officially begin his duties”.
Abdullahian’s visit comes following Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s visit in June, the first by a Saudi foreign minister to Tehran since 2006, when they held talks on security, economy, tourism and transportation issues.
And last week, the Saudi embassy in Tehran resumed its activities, according to Iranian official media, but Riyadh did not confirm this or name an ambassador to Tehran.
Iranian media had previously attributed the delay in reopening the Saudi embassy to the poor condition of the building, which was damaged during the 2016 demonstrations.
Pending completion of the works, the Saudi diplomats will work in “safe quarters in a luxury hotel in Tehran,” according to media reports.
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