Iraq Prepared to Host Iranian-Saudi Talks

By Staff, Agencies

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein expressed his country’s readiness to pave the way for the resumption of political negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

In a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Thursday night, Hussein voiced the Iraqi government’s readiness to prepare the ground for the restart of political negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Baghdad.

He also expressed hope that the talks between Tehran and Riyadh would result in “positive developments” and the re-establishment of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia as two major countries in the region.

Hussein further expressed Baghdad’s readiness to assist with the issues relating to the Hajj pilgrimage.

For his part, Amir Abdollahian praised the Iraqi officials for their efforts to facilitate the visits that Iranian pilgrims make to Saudi Arabia in this year’s Hajj season.

He also called on the Iraqi government to pursue the remaining affairs relating to the Hajj pilgrimage.

The two senior diplomats also talked about the expansion of relations between Iran and Iraq and the latest regional developments.

In a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minster Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Tehran on June 26, Amir Abdollahian expressed gratitude to Iraq for strengthening dialogue and for its constructive role in the regional equations and mediation in the talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, welcoming plans for the reopening of embassies in Tehran and Riyadh.

Baghdad has so far played host to several rounds of talks between the Iranian and Saudi representatives.

Diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh soured following the January 2016 execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh cut ties with Tehran afterwards, responding to attacks by angry protesters on its embassy in the Iranian capital.

Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen as well as the death of hundreds of Iranian Hajj pilgrims in a deadly crush in Saudi Arabia’s Mina in September 2015 had prepared the ground for the deterioration of tensions between Tehran and Riyadh.