Iranian delegation to visit Saudi Arabia this week

By Murat Basoglu

TEHRAN (AA) - Iran will send a delegation to Saudi Arabia later this week to prepare for the reopening of its embassy in Riyadh, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

"The Iranian delegation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is finalizing its preparations and taking its executive measures, and we expect it to go to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the end of the week," Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported late Sunday, citing the director general of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Reza Enayati.

“Preparations will be made for the reopening of the Iranian Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Jeddah,” he said, noting that one team will go to Jeddah and another to Riyadh.

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.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat in Ankara