TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has said that Iran will soon appoint an ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

In remarks on Wednesday, said the arrangements for naming ambassador to Saudi Arabia are underway and will be announced soon. 

“The reopening of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the appointment of the Iranian ambassador to Saudi Arabia will be done and announced soon,” Amir Abdollahian said, according to IRNA. 

He added, “The return of normal relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia is a great potential that is at the disposal of the two countries, the region and the Islamic world.”

The remarks come amid ongoing preparations for fully resuming relations with Saudi Arabia according to the March 10 agreement between Tehran and Riyadh that was brokered by China. 

Amir Abdollahian briefed lawmakers on a number of foreign affairs, including the normalization with Saudi Arabia, on Monday.

Lawmaker Abolfazl Amouei, who attended the meeting, said the briefing addressed the latest developments related to Iran’s diplomacy, particularly with neighboring countries. In this meeting, Amir Abdollahian also offered details on the Saudi-Iranian normalization.

“In this meeting, the head of the diplomatic service discussed the process of resuming relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia as an indicator of strengthening regional cooperation in the 13th government,” Amouei told IRNA. 

He added, “In addition to the bilateral and political aspect of this relationship, including discussing the resumption of the Umrah and the full establishment of embassies and consulates, we are also interested in strengthening the economic perspective of the agreement between the two Islamic countries.”

He noted, “In this meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reviewed the process of international and regional developments and said that the world is moving towards the multiplicity of effective actors and the rise of regional powers and that with the change of the international order, the application of American hegemony in different regions of the world, including our region, has faced a fundamental challenge.”

Iran and Saudi Arabia have recently agreed to resume diplomatic relations in the deal brokered by China. The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia have met in Beijing to follow up on the deal. The two countries are now exchanging delegations to pave the way for reopening embassies.

In recent weeks, several Iranian diplomats were dispatched to Saudi Arabia to review the procedures for reopening Iran’s diplomatic missions in the Arab country.