Iran’s foreign minister visits Saudi Arabia for first time in years as relations improve

Middle East, News August 18, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian arrived in Riyadh on August 17, 2023, marking the first official trip from an Iranian top diplomat to Saudi Arabia in years. His visit aims to further ease the tensions between the two former rival states in the Middle Eastern.

According to Iran’s Foreign Ministry, the one-day visit by Tehran’s top diplomat “is focusing on bilateral ties, regional and international issues.” Amirabdollahian is accompanied by Iran’s new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alireza Enayati, who is set to “officially start his mission” after the resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Shortly after arriving in Riyadh, Amirabdollahian met with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. The two foreign ministers discussed ways to achieve further improvement in bilateral relations.

“Relations between Tehran and Saudi are on the right track and we are witnessing progress,” Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a joint news conference with his Saudi counterpart. “We had good discussions over a broad range of issues during our meetings today,” he added.

Prince Faisal, who visited Tehran in June this year, said that the Kingdom hopes Iranian leadership would also visit Riyadh soon and extended an invitation on behalf of King Salman bin Abdulaziz to Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi. Prince Faisal had invited the Iranian President during a bilateral meeting while he was in Tehran, to which Raisi has he would travel to the kingdom at the “appropriate time”.

^{Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meets with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Tehran, Iran, on June 17, 2023. (Image Credit: Majid Asgaripour/WANA/via Reuters)}

“We look forward to a new phase in our relationship based on our Islamic brotherhood and work towards common interests,” Prince Faisal added, saying that he welcomed Iran’s endorsement of Riyadh’s bid to host Expo 2030.

Iran-Saudi Arabia relations

Iran and Saudi Arabia reestablished their diplomatic ties this year following years of rivalry due to geopolitical and religious differences. The two countries have been accused of orchestrating proxy wars all across the Middle East by backing opposite sides in conflicts, including Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon. The landmark political progress pushed by Beijing earlier this year brought Tehran and Riyadh closer to each other after seven years of diplomatic rift.

Following the deal, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to open their embassies in each other’s countries after 7 years of diplomatic cutoff. Iran and Saudi Arabia’s relations hit the lowest point in 2016 when Riyadh broke off its diplomatic ties with Tehran and closed its embassy in Iran as well as the consulate in Mashhad after some protestors barged into Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic posts in Iran as a reaction to Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shia Muslim scholar.

After reestablishing diplomatic ties, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud traveled to Iran on his first official trip in June 2023 and met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian and Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi during his trip to Tehran.