ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran has unilaterally “temporarily suspended” direct talks with Saudi Arabia, reported an Iranian news outlet affiliated with the country’s top security body on Sunday.
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced on Saturday that the fifth round of talks between Riyadh and Tehran would take place in Baghdad on Wednesday.
Nournews, linked with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Sunday that talks had been suspended without providing any further details behind the reason.
Iranian state media did not confirm the reports but denied that agreements to hold the fifth round of talks on Wednesday had been reached in the first place.
The reports come several days after the announcement on Friday of a pause in the talks in Vienna aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran’s foreign ministry had previously stated the talks were on the country’s agenda, without setting a date.
Since last year, Iran and Saudi negotiators have met in Baghdad on four occasions in the presence of Iraqi officials to speak about how to resolve their differences in the Middle East, particularly when it comes to the conflict in Yemen where Iran-backed Houthi militias are known to use Iranian manufactured drones and missiles to target Saudi airports and cities.
Iraq has played a key role in facilitating the talks, with the fifth round of Saudi-Iran talks delayed while Iraqi political actors continue the process of forming a new government following the country’s parliamentary elections.
The talks have been taking place in the backdrop of ongoing indirect talks, which are currently in their final stage, between Iran and the US aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal.
Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic have had rocky relations since 1979, when Shiite revolutionaries came to power in Iran and pledged to export its revolution to the world, including Gulf countries.
Iran’s support for Houthi rebels in the Yemeni civil war since late 2014 has caused concerns for the Saudi establishment.
Tens of thousands have been killed, and over 80 percent of Yemen’s population is dependent on aid according to the United Nations.
