After the two countries reached a reconciliation agreement, King Salman of Saudi Arabia extended an invitation to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to tour the kingdom, an Iranian official reported on Sunday.
“In a letter to President Raisi… the King of Saudi Arabia welcomed the deal between the two brotherly countries (and) invited him to Riyadh,” tweeted Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, adding that “Raisi welcomed the invitation”.
The two regional powerhouses revealed a deal on March 10 to mend their ties seven years after they were severed through Chinese mediation.
Following the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr in 2016, protesters in Iran attacked Saudi foreign missions. This was just one of many flashpoints between the two longtime regional rivals.
With the implementation of agreements made more than 20 years ago, the arrangement should result in the reopening of Saudi Arabia’s and Iran’s embassies and missions, which are both predominantly Sunni Muslim countries with Shiite majorities.
On Sunday, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the foreign minister of Iran, told reporters that the two nations had decided to arrange a meeting of their top officials.
