BAGHDAD —
Regional rivals
Iran and Saudi Arabia have resumed key talks in the Iraqi
capital Baghdad after negotiations were suspended last month, a senior Iraqi
official said Saturday.
اضافة اعلان
“Talks resumed
last Thursday in Baghdad,” the official said, speaking on condition of
anonymity, and without giving further details.
Iran’s Nour news
agency confirmed a meeting attended by “senior officials from the secretariat
of
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and the head of the Saudi
intelligence service”.
Shiite-majority
Iran and the Sunni Kingdom of Saudi Arabia support rival sides in several
conflict zones across the region, including in Yemen, where Houthi rebels are
backed by Tehran, and Riyadh leads a military coalition supporting the
government.
In 2016, Iranian
protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran after the kingdom
executed revered Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr.
Riyadh responded
by cutting ties with Tehran.
The talks in Iraq
– which borders both Iran and Saudi Arabia – are the fifth round of meetings in
the country in the past year between Tehran and Riyadh aimed at restoring ties.
“It is expected
that a joint meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries will be
held in the near future,” Nour said, describing what it called the “positive
atmosphere of the recent meeting, which raised the hopes of a resumption of
bilateral relations”.
In March,
Iranian media reported that
Tehran had suspended participation in talks after
Saudi Arabia announced it had executed in just one day a record 81 people
convicted of various crimes related to “terrorism”, including men linked to
Yemen’s Huthi rebels.
But in early
March,
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country and Iran were
“neighbours forever”, and that it was “better for both of us to work it out and
to look for ways in which we can coexist”.
The comments
were welcomed by Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
“We have different views
and approaches on some issues in the region, but the management of differences
by the sides can serve the interests of the two nations,” Amir-Abdollahian said
at the time.
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