Saudi Arabia and Iran are set to reopen their respective embassies in each other’s capitals “within days,” as announced by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Friday. This development marks an improvement in relations between the two nations seven years after they closed their diplomatic missions.
Amirabdollahian, speaking at a press conference in Beirut, did not provide exact dates for the reopening of the embassies, which were closed in 2016.
He stated that during a recent phone call between the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers on Eid al-Fitr, they agreed to work towards reopening the Iranian and Saudi embassies in Tehran and Riyadh in the coming days. The decision follows an agreement mediated by China last month to restore diplomatic ties between the two regional rivals.
The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran started to decline in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and the UAE intervened in the Yemen conflict. This intervention occurred after the Iran-aligned Houthi movement overthrew the Saudi-backed government and took control of Sanaa.
The strained relationship between the two nations has intensified regional conflicts, including the Syrian civil war.
Amirabdollahian’s announcement came at the end of his visit to Lebanon, where he met with Lebanese officials, including Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. He also confirmed that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi would visit Syria in the “near future,” though he did not provide further details.
This visit would mark the first meeting between an Iranian president and Bashar al-Assad since the onset of the conflict in Syria in 2011. Then, with military and economic support from Iran and Russia, Assad was able to change the course of the conflict and regain control of most of his country.
In Israel, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi suggested that Iran’s diplomatic efforts responded to its struggle to cope with Israeli military attacks against its assets in Syria and other countries, claiming that “Iran is in distress.”
Additional Input from Reuters
