Saudi Arabia may send a representative to attend the inauguration of Iran new President
The Iranian “Etemadonline” website quoted an informed source that Saudi Arabia is expected to send a representative to Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the country’s new president, Ibrahim Raisi, to resume bilateral relations.
In an interview with the site, the source said: “Iran invited Saudi Arabia to participate in the ceremony, and it seems that the Saudis agreed to that.”
The source added that there is a possibility to announce an improvement in relations between Tehran and Riyadh at any moment with the resumption of the work of the two embassies, considering that a symbolic step may be taken to activate bilateral relations during a major inauguration ceremony that is scheduled to take place in the first half of August.
The spokesman added that “there are talks currently taking place in the capitals of some Arab countries, and most of the differences are not about relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but rather because of the situation in Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq.”
The source added that the issue of resuming Iranian-Saudi relations may be on the agenda of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, during his visit to Washington and his meeting with US President Joe Biden.
Iran and Saudi Arabia, the two largest rival powers in the Middle East, have previously confirmed that they are in talks to resolve the multiple bilateral differences between the two parties.
There is great tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran due to many sharp differences, especially the war in Yemen and the January 2, 2016 attacks on the Riyadh embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in Mashhad, after the kingdom’s authorities executed 47 people in terrorism cases, including the prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr.
There have been no official diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh since 2016, but in recent weeks, messages have been exchanged about their desire to settle differences.