TEHRAN – A senior Iranian diplomat has said that an Iranian delegation will travel to Saudi Arabia soon to discuss procedures for reopening Iran’s diplomatic missions in the Arab country. 

The diplomat, Alireza Enayati, who is the head of the Persian Gulf Bureau at the Iranian foreign ministry, said on Sunday that Iran has held preliminary talks with the Saudi side in this regard. He said all the arrangements have been done for the Iranian delegation to travel to Saudi Arabia. 

“It is anticipated that this delegation will travel to Saudi Arabia later this week,” Enayati said, according to IRNA. 

He added, “The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be deployed in the form of two separate delegations, one in Jeddah and the other in Riyadh, to take the necessary measures to restore the situation and prepare for the reopening of the Iranian embassy and consulate in Saudi Arabia.”

Enayati, who had participated in the talks in China that led to the signing of the March 10 agreement between Tehran and Riyadh, said, “In the air transport agreement between the two parties, it is emphasized that the technical delegations should discuss with each other to activate this agreement.”

He noted, “Based on this, it has been decided to resume flights to and from Iran and Saudi Arabia.”

Tasnim reported that the Iranian delegation will probably be dispatched to Saudi Arabia on April 11.

The visit comes against a backdrop of accelerated rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran.

A Saudi Arabian delegation has visited Tehran to discuss procedures for reopening the Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran in line with a March 10 agreement between Tehran and Riyadh.

The arrival of the Saudi delegation came “in the implementation of the joint tripartite agreement between Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the People's Republic of China, and in the completion of what was agreed upon by the two sides during the talks session between the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, and Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian, which took place in Beijing, on April 6, 2023,” according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The delegation, headed by Nasser bin Awad Al-Ghanoum, met with the Chief of Protocol at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Honardust, at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Tehran.

During the meeting, Al-Ghanoum expressed his thanks to the Chief of Protocol for the warm welcome the team received, while Honardust expressed his country's readiness to provide all facilities and support to facilitate the mission of the Saudi team.

Iran and Saudi Arabia signed a Chinese-brokered deal on March 10 to restore their diplomatic ties. The foreign ministers of the two countries have recently met in Beijing in line with this agreement.

The bilateral meeting and talks between the foreign ministers of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia were held in a very positive and constructive atmosphere in Beijing, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.