Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, paid an official visit to Saudi Arabia on Thursday: it is the first trip by an Iranian government official to Saudi Arabia since the two countries sealed a historic agreement in March have decided to re-establish their diplomatic relations, interrupted since 2016.
Iran, governed by a Shiite theocracy, and Saudi Arabia, governed by a Sunni absolute monarchy, are two of the main countries in the Middle East: for years they have had conflicting relations and due to their size and importance they have often been considered as the main antagonists in many events in the region. The rupture of diplomatic ties occurred seven years ago, when Iran recalled its ambassador after Saudi Arabia sentenced prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al Nimr to death. There were huge protests in Iran at the time, and the Saudi embassy in Tehran was burned down.