Iranian President Ibrahim Rahim welcomed an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to visit the country after the two countries reached a settlement agreement, an Iranian official said.
Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, tweeted, “In a letter to President Rahid, the King of Saudi Arabia welcomes the agreement between the two fraternal countries (and) invites him Going to Riyadh.” He also added in a message on Sunday, 19th, “Rahih welcomes the invitation”.
The two regional heavyweights announced a China-brokered deal on March 10 to restore ties after they broke off seven years ago.
Riyadh severed ties with Iranian protesters after Saudi Arabia executed Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr in 2016 when they attacked Saudi diplomatic missions. And this is just one in a series of flashpoints between the two long-standing regional rivals.
The deal is expected to give Shiite-majority Iran and predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia two months to reopen their embassies and send missions and implement security and economic cooperation pacts signed more than two decades ago.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdulashian told reporters on Sunday that the two countries had agreed to hold a meeting of senior diplomats.
He added that we have proposed three meeting places. But he did not specify where those locations were.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashim reported from Tehran that Amir Abdurrashian stressed that “the two countries are exchanging technical teams to check the embassies in Tehran and Riyadh to see if they are ready to deploy two Task.”
Hashim pointed out that “according to Amir-Abdurashian, the Iranians proposed three locations for the meeting. The communication between the two sides is now through the Swiss embassy, not through the Chinese. This may Shows that there are now several lines of communication between the Iranians and the Saudis.”
The detente between Saudi Arabia, the world‘s largest oil exporter, and Iran, which is at odds with Western governments over its nuclear activities, threatens to reshape relations in a region that has been turbulent for decades.
Iran and Saudi Arabia back rival sides in several conflict zones, including Yemen, where Houthi rebels are allied with Tehran and a pro-government military coalition led by Riyadh.
The two countries also compete for influence in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.
Some Gulf states followed Riyadh’s move in 2016 and reduced ties with Tehran, while the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait recently restored ties.
Amir Abdulahian said Iran also wanted to take steps to normalize relations with Bahrain. The country, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, followed Riyadh in breaking diplomatic ties with Iran in 2016.
Iran also wants to take steps to normalize ties with Bahrain, a close Saudi ally that severed ties with Iran in 2016 after Riyadh.
In the past, Bahrain has accused Iran of training and supporting a Shia-led uprising in the Sunni-ruled kingdom to overthrow the government in Manama. Tehran denies this.
Amir-Abdurashian pointed out, “A deal was reached two months ago to allow Iranian and Bahraini technical delegations to visit the embassies of both countries. We want to remove some obstacles between Iran and Bahrain, and we will take some basic steps Reopen the embassy.”
Manama had no immediate comment.
Along with other Gulf Arab states, Bahrain welcomed the agreement between Riyadh and Tehran to restore relations.
In September, Iran welcomed a UAE ambassador after a six-year vacancy. A month ago, it said Kuwait had posted its first ambassador to Tehran since 2016.
Iran’s top security official, Ali Shamkhani, also held talks with United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. It was another sign of shifting relations in the region.