Aim of negotiations with Saudi Arabia is to reopen embassies: Iran

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A spokesperson for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament, Abolfazl Amawi, provided clarifications on the process of negotiations between Tehran and Riyadh to revive bilateral relations.

In a statement to Fars News Agency, Amawi explained that with the mediation of the Iraqi government, five rounds of negotiations were held between Iran and the Saudi government, noting that Saudi Arabia unilaterally severed its relations with Iran, which harmed the cooperation between the Iranian and Saudi peoples.

He pointed out that, all this time, Tehran had announced its readiness to resume bilateral relations and pursue bilateral dialogue, but Saudi Arabia failed to follow up with this issue for a period of time.

Amawi mentioned that the Saudis then shifted their position and announced their readiness to conduct negotiations through a mediator.

The Iranian politician emphasized that the main objective of the negotiations is to revive bilateral relations and permanently reopen embassies between the two countries, noting that executive steps have been taken to this end, and the two sides have expressed their views on bilateral issues.

Regarding the path of the negotiations, the Iranian spokesperson explained that when this path is completed, the two countries will see a diplomatic dialogue between them, adding that the path that will eventually be followed is the reopening of embassies.

Amawi highlighted that Iran has some reservations about Saudi Arabia’s regional and international stances and has mentioned this in the negotiations, but Tehran does not consider this to be a barrier to cooperation and the existence of bilateral relations between the two peoples.

The spokesperson considered that restoring these bilateral relations can help in taking steps in the path of reducing the influence of foreign forces and thwarting some of the Zionist plans in the region.

It is noteworthy that last week, Amawi confirmed that the talks with Saudi Arabia have reached the stage of restoring relations to a good level.

Since last year, Iraq hosted five rounds of talks between Tehran and Riyadh, with the aim to soften up the tensions between the two countries.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi had previously confirmed that the Iranian-Saudi talks, which took place in Baghdad, "reached advanced stages," noting that "Iraq played an important role in converging views between regional countries, by hosting the dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Iran."

Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein had announced that the next meeting between Saudi Arabia and Iran will be public.

In an interview for the Iranian state television, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian indicated that the Iraqi Foreign Minister informed Tehran that Riyadh expressed its readiness to launch a public dialogue at the political level.

Saudi Arabia decided to cut ties with Iran in January 2016, after tensions rose following Riyadh's execution of Saudi opposition cleric Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr.

In mid-March, Tasnim News Agency reported that talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been temporarily suspended following Riyadh's mass execution of 81 people, including 41 from the peace protest movement in Al-Ahsa and Qatif, seven Yemenis, and one Syrian, claiming that they were "involved in terrorist cases inside the Kingdom."