Iran, Saudi to re-open embassies soon: FM

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Iran and Saudi Arabia will soon announce the re-opening of their respective embassies in each country, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Wednesday.

During a session of the Iranian Shura Council, Amir-Abdollahian underlined that the top diplomatic agencies in Iran and Saudi Arabia "must reopen the embassies and consulates of the two countries," Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

"The normalization of relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia gives a huge boost in terms of capabilities to both countries and the region as a whole," the Iranian top diplomat underlined.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that there was tremendous progress in terms of the preparation for the headquarters of the diplomatic missions in each country.

It was reported in April that Saudi and Iranian authorities were consulting and cooperating to pave the way for the reopening of their diplomatic missions.

These measures are carried out within the framework of the March 10 Chinese-brokered agreement on restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"The recent agreements between Iran and Saudi Arabia will have a positive effect on boosting cooperation in order to improve peace and stability and on strengthening economic and trade relations between the two countries and in the region," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.

A month after Iran and Saudi Arabia struck a deal to restore diplomatic relations under Chinese mediation, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, met in Beijing for the first meeting between their two countries' top diplomats in seven years.

The Chinese ambassador to Iran, Zhang Hua, said that the Iranian-Saudi rapprochement came as a result of "the existence of a common intention between the two countries, and China played the role of coordination between them," adding that Tehran and Riyadh chose China for dialogue and talks, "and we welcomed that."

In an exclusive statement to Al Mayadeen, the ambassador pointed out that China is proud of the success of the Saudi-Iranian dialogue in Beijing, and hopes to see other similar peace initiatives.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi announced, during an exclusive interview with Al Mayadeen earlier this month, that since he took office, his government's policy is to prioritize establishing friendly ties with neighboring countries and developing bilateral relations in several areas, including the political, economic, cultural, and social fields.

Touching upon this matter, he stressed that religion, culture, and history were shared with the brotherly neighbors of Iran, including West Asia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, especially Islamic countries.

"During my visit to Beijing, the Chinese President [Xi Jinping] said that during his earlier visit to Saudi Arabia, he had reached a proposal," and suggested that Iran and Saudi Arabia resume relations, Iran's President stated.

Raisi said that he, at that time, expressed readiness to re-establish relations with Riyadh and that the initial steps toward Xi's proposal were taken while he was in Beijing.

Xi in return told Raisi during the meeting that the Saudi leadership expressed their desire to restore relations with Iran and that he [Xi] will follow up on the mediation.

Remarking on Beijing's mediating role, Raisi noted that some countries may not have wanted China to be the mediator, but Tehran regarded it in a positive manner.