Possible meeting between Saudi Arabia and Iran to take place in Baghdad
Leaders participating in Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership 2021. Tactical Report image.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – An Iranian legislator told Fars News Agency (FNA) on Tuesday that Iranian Minister or Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Faisal bin Farhan, are expected to meet soon in Baghdad to discuss topics such as reopening their embassies and the crisis in Yemen, according to Middle East Online news.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement, shortly after the Iranian Legislator announced that the two ministers of the rival countries will met soon, explaining that no development took place in the talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia since April, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, explained that there are no new developments since the last round of talks took place in Baghdad last April. He added that there are some topics on the agenda such as how talks will continue and at which level.
Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Iran with its Shiite majority, which are on opposite sides of conflicts and crisis across the Middle East, began their direct talks last year in an attempt to contain tension.
The two countries held a fifth round of talks in Baghdad last April and Tehran described the talks as positive. But the talks until now remain in an exploratory stage with no actual steps to end the diplomatic rupture started in 2016, after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran to protest against Riyadh’s execution of the Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr after being convicted of charges related to terrorism.
Baghdad that has close relations with both Saudi Arabia and Iran is leading mediation efforts between the two regional rivals as the reconciliation between Riyadh and Tehran serves Iraq’s security and stability.
There are several disagreements between the two countries, on top of which are the threats represented in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, and Tehran’s financing of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq, Houthis in Yemen and the participation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Syrian war ongoing since 2011.