Iran delegation arrives in Saudi Arabia to reopen embassy

An Iranian technical delegation has arrived in Saudi Arabia for the reopening of Tehran’s embassy in Riyadh, Iran’s official media has reported.

According to IRNA news agency, the delegation, which arrived on Wednesday, will later travel to Jeddah to inspect the consulate office and the Iranian mission to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

A Saudi delegation visited Tehran on Saturday to discuss the reopening of embassies as part of talks hosted by China to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries that were severed in 2016.

On March 10, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced the resumption of their diplomatic relations and the reopening of embassies within two months.

In January 2016, Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran after attacks on its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad, in protests against the execution of Saudi Shia cleric Nimr al Nimr.

The rapprochement between mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and Shia-majority Iran, strongly at odds with Western governments over its nuclear activities, has the potential to reshape relations across a region characterised by turbulence for decades.

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