ALBAWABA - Saudi-Iranian talks hosted in Baghdad can be described as "upbeat" despite regional and international tensions.
Saudi-Iranian talks hosted by Iraq have reached an “advanced level”, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said on Wednesday according to Anadolu.
The social media are in a state of flux about the talks now going on for more than a year in Iraq through patient diplomacy. News of the talks are rife in different news websites.
Saudi-Iranian talks hosted by Iraq reach an “advanced level”, says Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al Kadhimi https://t.co/pANqmhW0nv
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Iraq “has played an important role in bringing the views of the regional countries closer by hosting dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Iran," al-Kadhimi told a press conference in the capital Baghdad, according to the Turkish news agency.
It said the premier, however, did not provide any details about the progress in the talks between the two regional rivals with Baghdad hosting five rounds of talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran in recent months in an effort to normalize their relations and ease tensions between the two neighbors.
Last month, Iranian lawmaker Javad Karimi-Ghodousi said a meeting is expected to be held between Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan in Baghdad. He, however, did not give an exact date for the meeting.
Tehran and Riyadh severed diplomatic relations in January 2016 following an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran after Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr was executed by Saudi authorities, Anadolu points out. The relationship between the two rivals deteriorated further after Iran in September 2016 accused Riyadh of deliberately causing the death of around 400 Iranian pilgrims in a 2015 stampede in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
Talks between Saudi and Iranian officials aimed at defusing tensions between their two countries are said to be at advanced level pic.twitter.com/CpgMCEoNEu
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The two sides have since been engaged in a strong regional rivalry, often accusing each other of waging a proxy war for regional influence Anadolu states.
The talks have continued despite renewed international tensions between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency over different nuclear issues which the Riyadh says Tehran must comply with.
