RIYADH: Iranian media reported Thursday that a Saudi top diplomat Faisal bin Farhan is set to visit Iran Saturday, as two Middle Eastern heavy-weights are taking steps further to strengthen their bilateral ties after a seven-year diplomatic cut-off.
According to Tasnim news agency, “The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Farhan, will travel to Tehran on Saturday, June 17, to meet with officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Ali Bahadori Jahromi, Iran’s government spokesman said that the Saudi Minister Prince Farhan’s visit would see him “take measures to open the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Tehran”.
The bilateral ties between Riyadh and Tehran were at their lowest in 2016 after the former’s embassy in Tehran and consulate in the northwestern city of Mashhad came under attack.
The spokesperson did not provide the date for when the Saudi embassy — which was shut down in 2016 — will reopen. Iran in early June reopened its embassy in Riyadh.
Earlier, the Iranian media reported citing sources that the Saudi embassy may reopen during Prince Faisal’s visit.
Both the states were locked in proxies — while maintaining animosity since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran — and opposed each other on re-gional issues.
The countries supported opposing sides in the conflicts underway for more than a decade in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.
In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reopen their respective embassies and work towards resuming ties in a Chinese-mediated thaw.
Since then, Riyadh resumed ties with Syria — an ally of Tehran — and has geared up its peace efforts in neighbouring Yemen, where it leads a mili-tary coalition supporting the internationally-recognised government.
Tehran has also been engaged in Omani-mediated talks with the US on the Iranian nuclear programme.
The Saudi foreign minister and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, met in Beijing in April, where they both vowed to promote re-gional security and stability.
The same month, a Saudi delegation visited Iran to discuss reopening its diplomatic missions, Riyadh’s foreign ministry said at the time. –Agencies
