MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2023) Iran welcomes the possible resumption of diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, as well as the opening of embassies as part of the upcoming talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Friday.
In 2022, Saudi Arabia and Iran held five rounds of talks in Baghdad to restore broken relations and find possible ways to resolve differences.
"We have never initiated a break in relations with any country in the Muslim world, including with Saudi Arabia, and we welcome the return of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh to normalcy, as well as the opening of embassies as part of the upcoming negotiations," Amirabdollahian told a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart, Abdullah Bou Habib, in Beirut.
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia soured in January 2016 following Riyadh's decision to execute Shia cleric Ayatollah Nimr al-Nimr, who questioned the Gulf monarchy's authority. On the same day, crowds of Iranians broke into the territory of Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad. In response, Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Tehran.
