Saudi foreign minister to visit Iran, latest step in restoring ties after 7-year rift

TEHRAN, Iran — Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat is coming to visit Tehran, the latest step in the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two Mideast rivals, according to a statement from Iran on Friday.

The statement said Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will meet his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, on Saturday. Prince Faisal is also expected to officially inaugurate the kingdom’s embassy in Tehran.

Both nations resumed the work of their diplomatic missions in the other country in recent weeks.

The Iranian foreign minister’s visit comes after a visit to Saudi Arabia by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier in June.

In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions.

It was a major diplomatic breakthrough negotiated by China, lowering the chance of further conflict between Riyadh and Tehran — both directly and in proxy conflicts around the region.

Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks in recent years following the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018, including one targeting the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry in 2019, temporarily halving the kingdom’s crude production.

Relations between the predominately Shiite Iran and the majority Sunni Saudi Arabia have long been tense. The kingdom broke ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters invaded Saudi diplomatic posts there. Saudi Arabia had executed a prominent Shiite cleric with 46 others days earlier, triggering the demonstrations.