Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi will visit Saudi Arabia and Iran "in the next few hours", as part of a mediation to resume relations between the two rival regional powers that were suspended in 2016, according to what Agence France-Presse learned today, Saturday, from an Iraqi government source.
And held in recent months, 5 rounds of talks between Iranian and Saudi officials in Iraq, which shares a border with the two countries.
At the conclusion of the fifth round of negotiations last April, Al-Kazemi said that he was convinced that "an understanding is soon" between Riyadh and Tehran;
The two powers that accuse each other of destabilizing the Middle East.
As part of these efforts, the Iraqi Prime Minister will visit the two capitals "in the next few hours", at the head of a "high-level delegation", and the identity of the officials that Al-Kazemi will meet has not yet been revealed.
According to the Iraqi official, during the two official visits, "very important issues related to Iraqi mediation aimed at reviving diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran will be discussed."
Efforts continue to revive diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran (Al-Jazeera)
Talks and Negotiations
He stressed that "the two visits are not related to the internal political affairs of Iraq," noting that "talks to form the new (Iraqi) government have nothing to do with the two visits."
Saudi Arabia and Iran severed relations in 2016 after protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the city of Mashhad following Riyadh's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
The two rival powers held negotiations, which were first announced in April 2021.
And last March, Iranian newspapers reported the "suspension" of the dialogue after Riyadh announced the execution of 81 people for crimes linked to "terrorism", including people linked to the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen in their war against the Saudi-backed government forces.
At the beginning of the same month, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman defended the policy of "coexistence" with Iran, and his statement was welcomed by Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdullahian, who saw in it a "readiness" from Riyadh to restore relations with his country.