China to host Saudi, Iranian foreign ministers as detente moves forward
The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers are meeting in Beijing on Thursday to advance the deal announced last month to restore ties between the two countries.
Less than a month after agreeing to restore ties in a landmark deal brokered by China, the top diplomats of Saudi Arabia and Iran will meet in Beijing on Thursday. The meeting is the first formal encounter between the two countries' foreign ministers, who last met in New York in September 2014, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian will discuss how to advance the deal announced last month and activate previous cooperation deals signed between the two countries in 1998 and 2001.
The two countries reached an agreement to resume relations on March 10 following months of China-sponsored talks between delegations led by Saudi national security adviser Musaad al-Aiban and his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani, according to a joint statement from Saudi Arabia, Iran and China released by the Saudi Foreign Ministry. The statement also stressed the need to respect the sovereignty of states and not interfere in their internal affairs.
The agreement marked a major breakthrough in the region after years of tensions between Arab Gulf countries and Iran over the latter’s growing influence in the region through its proxies and its expanding nuclear program.
