The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers spoke by phone to mark thebeginning of Ramadan, vowing to meet “soon” to implement a landmarkbilateral reconciliation deal, Riyadh said on Thursday.
The Saudi minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, called HosseinAmir-Abdollahian and the pair “exchanged congratulations on the occasion ofthe holy month of Ramadan”, which begins Thursday in both countries, theSaudi foreign ministry said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“The two ministers agreed to hold a bilateral meeting soon in order to pavethe way for the reopening of embassies and consulates between the twocountries,” the statement said.
Saudi officials have said the ministers’ expected meeting is the next stepin a surprise Chinese-brokered rapprochement announced on March 10 intendedto fully restore diplomatic ties seven years after they were severed.
Riyadh cut relations after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomaticmissions in 2016 following the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimral-Nimr — just one in a series of flashpoints between the two longstandingregional rivals.
The deal is expected to see Shiite-majority Iran and mainly Sunni MuslimSaudi Arabia reopen their embassies and missions within two months andimplement security and economic cooperation deals signed more than 20 yearsago.
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On Sunday, an Iranian official said President Ebrahim Raisi had favourablyreceived an invitation to visit Saudi Arabia from King Salman, thoughRiyadh has yet to confirm.
Amir-Abdollahian told reporters the same day that the two countries hadagreed to hold a meeting between their top diplomats and that threelocations had been suggested, without specifying which.
The detente between Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, andIran, strongly at odds with Western governments over its nuclearactivities, has the potential to reshape relations across a regioncharacterised by turbulence for decades.