Saudi Arabia ready to hold political talks with Iran: Kanaani

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
25 Jul 2022 14:11

Saudi Arabia expresses its readiness to advance reconciliation talks, according to Iran's foreign ministry.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has voiced his kingdom's keenness for the reconciliation talks to enter the political stage.

During a weekly press conference on Monday, Kanaani stated that Iraq's foreign minister Fuad Hussein had contacted his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian following the recent summit between Arab leaders and US President Joe Biden in Jeddah in mid-July.

Commenting on the “good and promising results" of five rounds of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia hosted by Iraq, Kanaani said that the top Iraqi diplomat told his Iranian counterpart that bin Salman announced on the sidelines of the Jeddah summit that Riyadh is ready for official political negotiations with Iran to start in Iraq.

“The ground is prepared for us to hold the next meeting (with Saudi Arabia) at the political and formal level. We also thank the Iraqi government for its positive role,” the spokesperson added.

It is worth noting that Iraq's foreign minister Fuad Hussein announced, on Saturday, that the next meeting between Saudi Arabia and Iran will be in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and will be a public one.

Over the past months, Iraq hosted rounds of talks between Tehran and Riyadh, with the aim to soften up the tensions between the two countries.

On his account, 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.