Saudi Arabia, Iran to reopen embassies ‘within days’: Minister

The announcement comes after the two countries agreed during talks in China last month to restore diplomatic ties.

Saudi Arabia and Iran will reopen embassies in each other’s capitals “within days”, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a sign of warming relations after the two countries closed their missions seven years ago.

Speaking at a press conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday, Amir-Abdollahian did not give specific dates for the reopening of embassies, which were closed in 2016. The two countries reached an agreement in China earlier last month to restore diplomatic relations. and embassies reopen after seven years of tensions.

“During the last phone conversation between the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia on Eid al-Fitr, we agreed to work in the coming days to reopen the Iranian and Saudi embassies in Tehran and Riyadh,” said Amir- Abdollahian, according to an official Arabic translation.

The relationship began to deteriorate in 2015 following the intervention of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the war in Yemen after the Iran-focused Houthi movement toppled the Riyadh-backed government and seized control of the capital Sanaa .

Tensions between the countries have led to conflict across the region, including the Syrian Civil War.

Amir-Abdollahian spoke at the end of his visit to Lebanon, where he met with Lebanese officials, including Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Iran’s foreign minister confirmed that President Ebrahim Raisi would visit Syria in “the near future” without giving details.

The visit would be the first by an Iranian president to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the outbreak of war in Syria in 2011. With military aid and economic support from Iran and Russia, Assad managed to turn the tide of the conflict and regain control. of most of his country.