Iran says ready to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia

The Iranian authorities are ready to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia when they consider that Riyadh is ready for this, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said at a forum in Tehran, Report informs referring to TASS.

“Negotiations with Saudi Arabia will continue on the same path, we are ready to follow the path of official diplomacy, reopen the embassies of the two countries and return to normal relations when the Saudi side is ready for this,” the minister said, answering a question about the possibility of meeting with Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on the sidelines of the second Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership, scheduled for December 20 in Amman.

“We have always welcomed cooperation and interaction with the countries of the region and the Persian Gulf,” the chief of Iranian diplomacy assured.

According to Abdollahian, the conference in Amman ‘may create space for overcoming challenges in the region,’ an important message of this meeting ‘should be an emphasis on regional cooperation without foreign interference.’

Earlier, IRNA reported that on the sidelines of the forum in Amman, a meeting of President of the Islamic Republic, Ebrahim Raisi, with Crown Prince, Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, may take place. However, later, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani announced that Abdollahian would attend the conference. According to IRNA, the program for the meeting of the Iranian and Saudi sides on the sidelines of the conference has not yet been determined.