BAGHDAD —
Iraq said Saturday it was preparing to host a “public” meeting of the foreign ministers
of Iran and Saudi Arabia as the two rivals seek to mend ties.
اضافة اعلان
Since April last year, Iraq has hosted five
rounds of talks between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran,
which support opposing sides in various conflicts around the region.
Those encounters were held privately and at a
low level, involving security and intelligence officials.
But on Saturday, Iraqi Foreign Minister
Fuad Hussein said his Iranian and Saudi counterparts would be meeting in Iraq at an
undisclosed date.
“I contacted the foreign minister of Iran
about this,” Hussein said in an interview with Kurdish television channel
Rudaw.
“We are preparing the meeting, trying to find
the best time to invite the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia,” he
said.
“It will be a public meeting, (unlike)
previous encounters which were secret and were held between intelligence and
security officials,” Hussein added.
His comments came days after Iranian Foreign
Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Iranian state television that his country
and Saudi Arabia are ready to move reconciliation talks to a higher level.
Amir Abdollahian said on Thursday that
“progress” had been made at previous rounds of talks between security officials
hosted by Iraq.
He added that last week Iran had received a
message from the Iraqi foreign minister who said “the Saudi side is ready to
move the talks to the political and public level”.
Riyadh severed ties with Tehran after Iranian
protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran in 2016 following the Saudi
execution of Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr Al-Nimr.
Amir-Abdollahian said Thursday he hoped new
negotiations will lead to the resumption of “normal diplomatic ties”.
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