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On May 11, Iran’s minister of finance and economic affairs arrived in the Saudi city of Jeddah in the first visit to the kingdom by a senior Iranian official since the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) said that Ehsan Khandouzi arrived in Jeddah leading an economic delegation. The minister was welcomed at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah by officials of the Saudi government, Islamic Development Bank officers, and Iranian consulate staff.
Khandouzi is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with Saudi officials and speak at the meetings of the Islamic Development Bank, according to ISNA.
In a related development, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on May 11 that Saudi Arabia has appointed its new ambassador to Tehran. The minister also confirmed that Iran will “soon” introduce its new envoy to Riyadh.
According to the official Islamic Republic News Agency, Amir-Abdollahian emphasized that in recent weeks, his colleagues at the Iranian Foreign Ministry have been preparing the country’s embassy in Riyadh and consulate general in Jeddah for reopening. The minister added that Iran’s diplomatic missions are set to commence operations in the coming days.
Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed in March to restore diplomatic relations, reopen embassies and reimplement a 2001 security pact following talks in the Chinese capital, Beijing. The kingdom broke off ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters stormed Saudi diplomatic posts in Tehran. Riyadh had executed a prominent Shia cleric days earlier.
After a breakthrough meeting in China last April, the foreign ministers of the two countries officially announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with immediate effect.
The Saudi-Iranian rapprochement led to several positive developments in the Middle East. Peace talks in Yemen, where the Kingdom has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthis (Ansar Allah) for the last eight years, moved forward. Riyadh also restored relations with Damascus and supported efforts to restore Syria’s seat in the Arab League.
The new developments indicate that both Saudi Arabia and Iran are deeply committed to the normalization agreement, which was seen as both a blow to the United States influence in the region and a major political victory for China.
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