Saudi, Iran foreign ministers call in Ramadan, promise to meet shortly

According to the Saudi Arabian foreign affairs ministry, the Saudi Arabian and Iranian foreign ministers spoke by phone to commemorate the beginning of Ramadan and promised to meet “soon” to begin the process of reopening embassies and consulates.

The ministry added that the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, “exchanged greetings and congratulations on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan,” which begins on Thursday in both countries.

The two ministers agreed to have a bilateral meeting to prepare the path for the reopening of embassies and consulates between the two nations, according to a tweet from the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry.

Seven years after diplomatic ties were broken, it is envisaged that the ministers’ meeting will be the next stage in the normalization of relations between the two nations, following the unexpected thaw announced on March 10 and negotiated by China.

Riyadh severed ties with Tehran after Iranian protestors assaulted Saudi Arabian diplomatic offices in 2016 in response to Saudi Arabia’s death of a famous Shia Muslim scholar – one of a number of flashpoints between the two longstanding regional adversaries.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have supported opposing parties in various Middle Eastern crisis zones, notably Yemen, where Tehran supports the Houthi rebels while Riyadh leads a military coalition supporting the government.

The accord mediated by China is likely to result in Iran and Saudi Arabia reopening their embassies and posts within two months and implementing security and economic cooperation agreements made more than two decades ago.

An Iranian official reported on Sunday that President Ebrahim Raisi had received a favorable invitation to visit Saudi Arabia from King Salman, although Riyadh has yet to confirm. On the same day, Amir-Abdollahian also informed reporters that the two nations had agreed to conduct a meeting between their senior diplomats and that three venues had been proposed, without identifying which.

The detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran has the potential to change ties in a region marked for decades by unrest.