Middle East
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud (left). Photo: AFP; and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Photo: Iranian Foreign Ministry; Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran are set to meet in Beijing on Thursday, according to a Saudi-owned newspaper, marking the highest level talks between the two countries in years.
The meeting between Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will be the latest step towards rapprochement between regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia following a China-brokered deal last month.
After over seven years of hostility which has played out in proxy wars across the Middle East, Tehran and Riyadh agreed to restore diplomatic ties.
“Beijing was chosen for the meeting between the FMs as an extension of its positive role in mediating the agreement and facilitating communication between the Kingdom and Iran,” Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper said on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
The two ministers previously held three rounds of telephone calls aimed at paving the way for the meeting to place in order to activate the deal reached.
The Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran had rocky relations since 1979, when Shiite revolutionaries came to power in Iran and pledged to export their revolution to the world, including Gulf countries.
Diplomatic ties were cut in 2016 when Iranian protestors attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in retaliation to the Sunni kingdom's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Both nations have also supported opposing forces in several conflict zones across the region, most notably in Yemen, where Iran backs the Houthi rebels while Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition supporting the government.
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