Iran's Deputy FM: Visit to Saudi Arabia on Tehran's agenda

Published May 14th, 2014 - 07:52 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister told reporters Wednesday that Tehran "has not received a written invitation for its foreign minister to visit Saudi Arabia," but is planning to in the near future, according to Reuters.

Deputy FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian's commentary follows Saudi Arabia's Foreign MInister's commentary Tuesday in which Prince Saud Al Faisal shared Saudi's willingness to negotiate with Iran. 
 
"Iran is a neighbor, we have relations with them and we will negotiate with them. We will talk with them in the hope that if there are any differences, they will be settled to the satisfaction of both countries. Our hope is that Iran becomes part of the effort to make the region as safe and as prosperous as possible, not part of the problem of the insecurity of the region."
 

Faisal also invited his counterpart in Tehran, Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Riyadh. 

"Any time that he sees fit to come, we are willing to receive him," he said.

Zarif has previously expressed willingness to work with Riyadh to establish regional stability and said in December that he would like to visit Saudi Arabia. 

Iran and Saudi Arabia have often been characterized as regional rivals, divided on major issues such as the Syrian civil war where Shiite Tehran supports the regime and Sunni Riyadh backs the opposition. 

Iran's decision, however to negotiate with the West over its nuclear program, with the latest round of talks commencing Monday, has in part spurred the recent exchanges between the two rivals.

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