Jazeera Net-Tehran

A senior Iranian parliamentarian said that differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia could be resolved when Riyadh pursues the option of negotiation as a strategy. Other circles have warned that Washington sees its interest in continuing the dispute between the two countries, continuing to sell its weapons to Riyadh.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced shortly after talks Sunday with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran that he was taking a special initiative to defuse tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but denied that his initiative was a mediation between the two countries.

In September, Khan revealed that while traveling from Islamabad to New York, he stopped in Saudi Arabia because of attacks on its oil facilities, and spoke to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, where he was asked to speak with the Iranian president.

For his part, the Iranian president welcomed any efforts by the Pakistani prime minister to achieve security and stability in the region, adding that his country would respond positively to any proposal for dialogue.

Commenting on these efforts, spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament, MP Hossein Naqvi, said he hoped the issue of dialogue by Saudi Arabia would not be a tactic or a temporary approach to gain time.

He stressed - in a post on social networking sites - that the differences between Tehran and Riyadh can be resolved when the latter pursues the option of negotiation as a strategy.

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Previous meetings
This is the third meeting of Imran Khan and Rouhani. They held similar talks during his previous visit to Tehran six months ago. The two men also met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

According to former Iranian parliamentarian Nozar Shafi'i, Imran Khan is carrying a "message of peace and negotiation" in his visit to Tehran, but pointed out that all past initiatives have failed to settle the differences between Riyadh and Tehran.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Shafi'i described Khan's mission in Tehran as "complex"; because of the depth of differences in relations between Tehran and Riyadh, stressing that the leaders of the two countries began exchanging messages for months, and that the mediation train has not stopped yet.

Shafi'i attributed the failure of past mediation to the lack of political will, pointing out that Islamabad's good relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia and America is an important card in the hands of Imran Khan to play a constructive role between the parties.

He said Pakistan could play a more positive role than any other country to contain the "harmful behavior" of Americans in Saudi-Iranian relations, noting that President Donald Trump sees the rift between Riyadh and Tehran as an economic interest to sell his weapons to Saudi Arabia by applauding the Iranian threat.

The former member of the Iranian parliament's foreign policy and national security committee pointed out that Saudi Arabia has become involved in a number of issues, particularly the Yemen quagmire, and that it is ready for reconciliation in order to get out of its crisis.He also urged his country to press ahead with the option of dialogue to reduce tension in the region.

Iranian political scientist Farzad Ramadan Poonch said Imran Khan's determination to balance Islamabad's relations with Iran and Saudi Arabia raises the chances of his initiative succeeding.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, he described the possibility of success of his initiative as "relative and dependent on the will of both sides" Saudi Arabia and Iran, stressing that the ground has become a paved for dialogue between Tehran and Riyadh and reduce tension in the region.

He pointed out that Islamabad seeks through its mediation to neutralize potential threats to its national security - given the presence of large segments of Pakistani society support one of the Iranian or Saudi parties - and strengthen Pakistan's presence in the region.

The Iranian researcher that any friction between Saudi Arabia and Iran would have a negative impact on the sectarian stability inside Pakistan, which is feared by Islamabad.

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Conditions of Iran
Regarding Iran's conditions for dialogue with Saudi Arabia, Ramdani Poonch said that based on what the Iranian Foreign Ministry recently announced, Tehran is ready for dialogue with or without mediation with all its neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.

He concluded by saying that Tehran's refusal to talk about the Yemeni crisis with the Saudi side confirms the correctness of the Iranian vision, and aims to put Yemen's suffering on the track of the real solution, because there is no solution to the Yemeni crisis only to discuss with the Houthis, as he put it.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rubaie said Friday there was no need for dialogue with Saudi Arabia on behalf of Yemenis or in their absence.