According to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the top diplomats of Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to meet before the end of the holy month of Ramadan in order to implement a significant bilateral reconciliation agreement brokered by China.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, came to this decision following their second phone call within a week.
“During the call, a number of common issues were discussed in light of the tripartite agreement that was signed in the People’s Republic of China,” the SPA said.
“The two ministers also agreed to hold a bilateral meeting between them during the ongoing month of Ramadan,” SPA said.
The meeting’s exact date and location were not specified in the report. However, given that Ramadan started last week and ends in the third week of April, it’s likely that the meeting will take place within that timeframe.
The purpose of the meeting is to restore ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which were severed seven years ago when Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in 2016 following the Saudi execution of Shia Muslim leader Nimr al-Nimr.
This event was just one of many flashpoints between the two longstanding regional rivals. The deal is expected to involve the reopening of embassies and missions within two months, as well as the implementation of security and economic cooperation agreements that were signed over 20 years ago.
On March 19, an Iranian official reported that President Ebrahim Raisi had received an invitation to visit Saudi Arabia from King Salman, although Riyadh has yet to confirm this.
On the same day, Amir-Abdollahian informed reporters that the two nations had reached an agreement to conduct a meeting between their senior diplomats, and three potential locations had been proposed without specifying which ones.
The potential reconciliation between Saudi Arabia, the largest global exporter of crude oil, and Iran, which has been at odds with Western governments due to its nuclear program, has the capacity to transform relationships throughout a region marked by instability for many years.
