Iran to reopen diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia this week
Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday Iran will reopen its diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia this week after seven year closure.
Kanaani said that Iran’s Embassy in Riyadh and its Consulate in Jeddah and its representative office to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) “will be officially reopened on Tuesday and Wednesday”.
A diplomatic source had earlier told AFP that the opening “will take place Tuesday at 6:00 pm local time (1500 GMT) with the presence of the newly appointed Iranian ambassador” to Saudi Arabia.
Kanaani said Iran’s Embassy in Riyadh and its consulate general in Jeddah have started their activities before the departure of Iranians to attend the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
According to media reports, Alireza Enayati has been appointed Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
He had previously served as assistant to the foreign minister and director general of Persian Gulf affairs at the foreign ministry.
On March 10, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to re-establish their diplomatic relations after seven years and reopen embassies within two months. In a joint statement after signing the Chinese-brokered agreement, Tehran and Riyadh highlighted the need to respect national sovereignty and refrain from interference the internal affairs of one another.
They also agreed to implement a security cooperation agreement signed in April 2001 and another accord reached in May 1998 to boost economic, commercial, investment, technical, scientific, cultural, sports, and youth affairs cooperation.
In a Friday meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of a meeting of the BRICS group of emerging countries, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said he would pay an official visit to Tehran in the near future.
Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran in January 2016 after Iranian protesters, enraged by the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the Saudi government, stormed its embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northern city of Mashhad.