Reuters: Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers to meet in Beijing
Sources in Saudi Arabia and Iran said that the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran will meet in Beijing, as the two sides continue to converge amidst an agreement mediated by China. The meeting between Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian will be the first official meeting between Saudi Arabia and senior Iranian diplomats in more than seven years.
Ending the crisis
After years of animosity that fueled conflicts throughout the Middle East, Tehran and Riyadh agreed to end their diplomatic rift and reopen embassies in a major agreement facilitated by China last month, Reuters International reported.
“The top envoys agreed to meet on April 6th in Beijing, where China facilitated the agreement,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters.
London-based Middle East newspaper quoted an unnamed source in Riyadh as saying that the choice of China “is an extension of Beijing’s positive role in reaching the agreement and facilitating communication between the two countries,” adding that the meeting will discuss the resumption of relations and arrangements for the exchange of ambassadors.
Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran was stormed during a row between the two countries over Riyadh’s execution of a Shia cleric.
“The relationship has been strained since 2015, after Saudi Arabia and the UAE intervened in the Yemen war, where the Iran-allied Houthi group overthrew a Saudi-backed government and seized the capital Sana’a, the agency said.”
The kingdom blamed Iran for arming the Houthis, who have carried out missile and drone attacks on its cities and oil installations. Iran denied the accusation despite the existence of a lot of physical evidence of the Houthis’ use of Iranian weapons.
