Iran, Saudi yet to plan meeting in Amman - reports
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Despite media reports about a prospected bilateral meeting between Riyadh and Tehran on the sidelines of the Baghdad summit in Jordan, Iranian sources have dismissed the speculations.
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The Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership August 28, 2021, Baghdad, Iraq (AP Photo)
There are still no plans between Iran and Saudi Arabia for a meeting between the two in Amman during the upcoming second edition of the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership that will be held in the Jordanian capital, sources in the Iranian government told Mehr news agency.
The Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership will be held in Amman on December 20, and it will not see Tehran and Riyadh coming back to the negotiation table after talks between the two have been on hiatus for a while now.
Iran, Turkey, and several Arab countries are set to participate in the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership's second edition. The forum's first edition was held in the Iraqi capital in August 2021.
It is not known who will specifically participate in the conference, but the previous edition saw Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, among others, participate on the level of the foreign ministry. Meanwhile, France, Egypt, Qatar, and Jordan participated on the level of the head of state, with Kuwait participating at the level of the premiership and the UAE at that of the Vice Presidency.
Iran, a key and influential regional power, has been a regarded participant in the conference, with the other parties seeing it as important and international media shedding a lot of light on its participation in the forum.
However, this participation has also caused reports to come out saying it was possible for Iranian and Saudi officials to meet on the sidelines of the forum, though the latest reports on Iranian media say otherwise.
"So far, no plan has been set for a meeting between the Iranian and Saudi sides on the sidelines of the meeting, but we should wait for the conference to be held. Some media have speculated the possibility of Saudi Arabia attending the meeting at the level of the Crown Prince," Iranian-state news agency IRNA reported.
It is noteworthy that diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia grew strained following the execution of Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr in January 2016. Sheikh al-Nimr was a vocal critic of the Saudi government. The Sheikh raised his voice against corruption and political injustice inflicted on marginalized groups that constitute minorities in different regions of the Kingdom, notably Al-Qatif.
The Saudi authorities arrested him in 2011 for participating in protests in the Eastern Province calling for political reform. They executed al-Nimr along with 46 other people, under the pretext of "fighting terror" just to oppress dissidents and opponents.
On the same day, Iranian protestors demonstrated in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran and the consulate in Mashhad, prompting the kingdom to sever diplomatic ties with Tehran. In response, Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Tehran.
However, the two ended holding talks earlier in the year, though the bilateral negotiations are now on hold.
The 6-month negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties have been suspended by the latter, due to the change of government in mediator-country Iraq, the Amwaj news website reported last month, citing an Arab negotiator.
With the end of Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s premiership in Iraq, Saudi Arabia has informed Tehran through special channels that the dialogue stopped, as he was the chief mediator of Saudi-Iranian reconciliation talks, and other Iraqi authorities were rarely or not involved at all, the source was cited as saying.
On October 28, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani replaced al-Kadhimi as prime minister, and the Iraqi mediation between Tehran and Riyadh, as well as other regional countries, stopped, the source said, adding that it is "not impossible" that Saudi-Iranian talks resume.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein told Sputnik on September 27 that Saudi Arabia and Iran could continue negotiations in Baghdad to normalize broken bilateral ties and resolve differences on the intelligence service level. According to the minister, the two countries had already agreed on many issues and could start talking at the level of foreign ministers.
