TEHRAN – Hossein Zarnegar Abarghoei, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s delegation dispatched to Riyadh for reopening the Iranian diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia, met on Wednesday with Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Abdul Majid bin Rashed Assamary upon arriving in the Saudi Kingdom’s capital.

The two officials discussed ways of facilitating the reopening of the Iranian diplomatic missions in the kingdom, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.

In the meeting, the Saudi deputy foreign minister greeted the visit by the Iranian delegation to Riyadh and Jeddah, and announced Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry’s full readiness to provide the Iranian team with the necessary assistance for this purpose.

He further thanked Iran for its warm welcome to the Saudi delegation and for helping with and speeding up the work of the Saudi officials.

The Saudi team tasked with reopening the kingdom’s embassy has been in Tehran since Saturday and is expected to fly to Mashhad. 

The Iranian team visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to pave the way for reopening diplomatic missions as the two countries prepare to restore diplomatic ties after seven years.

The trip took place just days after the Saudi delegation made a similar visit to Tehran hot on the heels of a historic meeting in Beijing between the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers who vowed to bring stability and security to the region.

"The Iranian delegation arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday to visit and reopen the Iranian embassy and consulate in accordance with the recent agreement between the two countries," IRNA reported.

"One team is due to travel to Jeddah to prepare for the reopening of Iran's consulate there and its representation in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, while the other will remain in Riyadh to reopen the embassy," the Iranian Foreign Ministry added.

The flurry of diplomatic activity follows last month's landmark, Chinese-brokered announcement that Iran and Saudi Arabia would work towards resuming ties.