News in Brief
Iran’s envoy to assume office in Riyadh
Iran’s new Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Alireza Enayati held a meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian before his departure for the kingdom to lead Tehran’s diplomatic mission.
Enayati presented a report to Amir-Abdollahian about the plans for expansion of bilateral ties between the two countries.
Amir-Abdollahian underlined the importance of strengthening of relations between the two countries.
Breaking a seven-year diplomatic rift, Tehran officially reopened its embassy in Riyadh in June, followed by its consulate in Jeddah and its representative office with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The two countries had severed diplomatic relations in 2016 after demonstrators stormed Saudi missions in Iran following the kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shia cleric.
‘US does not deserve roles in UN Human Rights Council’
Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva Ali Bahreini said the United States with its dark human rights record does not deserve roles in the Human Rights Council.
Bahreini made the statement in a post on his X account on Saturday in reaction to remarks by the US ambassador against Tehran, who is set to chair the UN Human Rights Council Social Forum this November, Press TV reported.
He attached a video clip to his post showing some cases of the US human right crimes, including the downing of an Iranian passenger plane by a US Navy guided-missile cruiser over the country’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf in 1988, which killed all 290 people on board.
Bahreini added that Washington “continues to occupy undeservingly a seat in the UN Human Rights Council.”
The Iranian envoy’s post came after US Ambassador to the UN’s Human Rights Council Michèle Taylor claimed that Iran has an appalling human rights record and should not have any place in leadership roles within the UN human rights ecosystem.