Hosseini: Saudi Arabia expressed readiness to resume talks with Iran

Iranian Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Hosseini revealed details of his talks with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister in Brazil, saying the kingdom has expressed its readiness to resume talks on rapprochement with Iran, Tasnim reported.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Hosseini said that he held extensive talks with the Saudi foreign minister when they attended the inauguration of incoming Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Hosseini noted that the senior Saudi diplomat listened patiently to his remarks and offered his own views.

He noted that the main topic of conversation was the fate of the talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which were brokered by Iraq.

According to him, the Saudi foreign minister welcomed the idea of holding a series of meetings to address differences and problems.

Pointing to the large number of Iranians who make the Hajj pilgrimage every year and stressing the need for closer cooperation between Tehran and Riyadh, Hosseini noted that both countries have stressed the importance of restoring ties.

Representatives of Iran and Saudi Arabia have held several rounds of talks in Baghdad over the past year.

Diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh soured after Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, in January 2016. Riyadh has since severed ties with Tehran in response to attacks by angry protesters on its embassy in the Iranian capital.

Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen, as well as the deaths of hundreds of Iranian pilgrims during the Hajj in a deadly stampede in the Saudi city of Mina in September 2015, further strained relations between Tehran and Riyadh.