The meeting — the first of the two countries’ top diplomats in more than seven years — follows a rapprochement in March.
The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing for the first formal meeting of the two countries’ top diplomats in seven years.
Saudi Arabia’s state broadcaster Al Ekhbariya released brief footage of the meeting on Twitter on Thursday showing Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, shaking hands and smiling in front of a traditional Chinese painting, as well as their flags. respective countries.
Then they went to a conference room where they sat down in wide armchairs and chatted.
Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed in March to mend ties and reopen diplomatic missions within two months after a years-long rift that escalated tensions in the Gulf region and deepened conflicts from Yemen to Syria.
The two men discussed steps to reopen their embassies and consulates, the AFP news agency reported, citing Iran’s Islamic Republic news agency.
فيديو | موفد #الإخبارية كلى ren كη luck عarant عaby billiar bill اللards ال alercping: لققاء utions elfع elfع ife ج More الخanchر dy phdy اife pic.twitter.com/rz80Vz7VAB
— قناة الإخبارية (@alekhbariyatv) April 6, 2023
(Translation: Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian have a meeting)
China helped bring the two sides together and brokered the historic agreement.
Riyadh severed formal ties after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi Arabian diplomatic missions in 2016 following Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shiite Muslim leader Nimr al-Nimr – one in a series of flashpoints between the two longstanding regional rivals.