TEHRAN: Iran and Saudi Arabia will reopen embassies in each other’s capitals “within days”, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a sign of warming ties after the two countries closed their missions seven years ago.
Speaking at a news conference in Beirut, Amir-Abdollahian did not give specific dates for reopening the embassies, which closed in 2016. The two countries reached an agreement in China earlier in March to re-establish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions.
An official Arabic translation quoted Amir-Abdollahian as having said that, “During the last phone call between the Iranian foreign ministers and Saudi Arabia on Eid al-Fitr, we’ve agreed to work in the next coming days on the reopening of the Saudi and Iranian embassies in Tehran and Riyadh,”
Tussle between the countries has led to regional tensions, including the Syrian civil war.
Amir-Abdollahian was speaking of his visit to Lebanon, where he met with Lebanese officials, including Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Iran’s foreign minister confirmed President Ebrahim Raisi would visit Syria in “the near future” without providing information.
The visit would be the first by an Iranian president to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since war broke out in Syria in 2011. With army help and economic support from Iran and Russia, Assad was able to turn the tide of the conflict and regain control of most of his country.
