In Beijing, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restart their diplomatic relations and restore embassies and missions after seven years when their relations ceased due to certain issues.
Comprehensive negotiations were conducted for several days between Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) secretary Ali Shamkhani and his Saudi counterpart in China and they concluded their talks on Friday announcing the restoration of diplomatic ties.
The agreement was signed by Musaid Al Aiban, Shakhani, the National Security advisor of Saudi Arabia, and the director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party, Wang Yi.
To find a permanent resolution to the problems between Tehran and Riyadh, Shamkhani has been in frequent communication with his Saudi counterpart in Beijing since Monday. The talks came after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi in Beijing last month.
In a joint statement, it was announced that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had reached an agreement to restart diplomatic ties and reopen embassies and missions within two months.
The statement further added that the Saudi and Iranian ministers will meet to execute the decision and make the necessary preparations for the ambassadorial exchange.
In the agreement, Iran and Saudi Arabia stressed the importance of respecting one another's national sovereignty and refraining from meddling in one another's internal affairs. They also agreed to put into implementation a May 1998 agreement to increase economic, commercial, investment, technological, scientific, cultural, sporting, and youth affairs cooperation as well as a security cooperation pact in 2001.
The agreement also highlighted Iran's, Saudi Arabia's, and China's unshakeable commitment to using all of their resources to enhance regional and international peace and security.
According to the statement, the delegations led by Shamkhani and Aiban, from Iran and Saudi Arabia conducted various meetings over the previous five days as a result of Chinese President Xi Jinping's efforts to organize meetings between senior Iranian and Saudi representatives and his support for the development of relations between Tehran and Riyadh based on the concept of good neighborliness.
The negotiations between Aiban and Shamkhani were also held as a result of Tehran and Riyadh's desire to settle differences through dialogue and diplomacy based on kinship and both sides' adhering to the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Charter as well as international laws and principles, it was added.
In January 2016, the kingdom broke diplomatic ties with Iran after Iranians protested against the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the Saudi government, and the protestors stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
Since April 2021, both countries had conducted five have conducted five negotiation rounds in Iraq.
Picture Credit: Press TV
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