Tehran ready for reopening of Iranian, Saudi embassies

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kan'ani expressed the country’s readiness for the reopening of the embassies and consulates of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the two countries.

According to Tasnim news agency, speaking to reporters at a weekly press conference on Monday, Kan'ani said Iran has announced several times that, if Saudi Arabia is serious about proceeding with the reconciliation talks, Tehran will be ready to continue the negotiations as well and elevate the talks to the political level.

The Islamic Republic is also prepared for obtaining a result from the negotiations in regard to the reopening of the political and consular missions of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the two countries, he added.

The spokesman stressed that Iran is willing to bring the ties with Saudi Arabia on the right track, as it is prepared to shake hands warmly with anyone extending a hand of friendship.

Iran believes that if the main focus is on the fulfillment of the interests of the two countries, there will be no obstacle to the normalization of relations between Tehran and Riyadh, he stated, noting that rapprochement depends on “political will”.

Representatives of Iran and Saudi Arabia have held several rounds of talks in Baghdad during the past year.

Diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh soured following the January 2016 execution of senior Shia Cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, in Saudi Arabia. 

Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen as well as the death of hundreds of Iranian Hajj pilgrims in a deadly human crush in Saudi Arabia’s Mina in September 2015 had prepared the ground for the deterioration of tensions between Tehran and Riyadh.

ME