Iran, Saudi Military Officials Stress Boosting Defense Ties

By Staff, Agencies

Senior Iranian and Saudi military officials have held talks over cooperation between the two countries in security and defense areas.

Brigadier General Bahman Behmard, deputy head of operations at the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, and Saudi Chief of General Staff General Fayyad bin Hamed al-Ruwaili met on the sidelines of the World Defense Show 2024 in Riyadh on Monday.

During the meeting, Behmard highlighted Iran’s defense and military capabilities and expressed the country’s readiness to develop relations with Saudi Arabia.

He invited Ruwaili to visit Tehran and gave him a message from the Iranian defense minister addressed to his Saudi counterpart.

Ruwaili, for his part, thanked the Iranian delegation for attending the exhibition and emphasized the need to expand Tehran-Riyadh cooperation in the military and defense fields.

In an X message, Iran’s Ambassador to Riyadh Alireza Enayati posted a picture of Monday’s meeting.

Last March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed under a Chinese-brokered deal to restore diplomatic relations severed in 2016.

In a joint statement after signing the pact, Tehran and Riyadh highlighted the need to respect each others’ national sovereignty and refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of one another.

They agreed to implement a security cooperation agreement signed in April 2001 and another accord reached in May 1998 to boost economic, commercial, investment, technical, scientific, cultural, sports and youth affairs cooperation.