The security of the Gulf region captured a large part of the discussions of the Munich Security Conference, and while the Iranian Foreign Minister said that Saudi Arabia does not want to reduce the escalation in the region, his Saudi counterpart denied sending any messages to Tehran.
In his speech to the Munich Security Conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif revealed that Riyadh sent a message to Tehran on the dialogue after the killing of the Quds Force commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Qassem Soleimani, but did not follow up.
Zarif said he believed the Saudi leadership did not want to reduce escalation in the region.
He added that Iran is ready to dialogue and discuss security arrangements with any neighbor, and Zarif sent a message to Iran's neighbors in the Gulf that the United States and Israel will not provide them with protection.
Zarif said that the French and Japanese efforts to push Iran and the United States to the negotiating table "found deaf ears," because US President Donald Trump believed that Iran was on the verge of economic collapse, and that a change in the system would take place.
"He is wrong," Zarif said. "Everything they want is related to regime change."
Saudi denial
In return, Saudi Arabia denied sending any private or confidential messages to Iran.
In a speech to Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan - during the Munich Security Conference - he said, "Our message to Iran is to change behavior first before discussing anything else."
He stressed that Saudi Arabia "is always interested in reducing escalation in the region," but added that "until the moment, there are no direct contacts with Iran."
"Any talk will be useless until we can talk about the real sources of this instability," the Saudi minister added.
Al-Farhan indicated that the recent escalation of violence in Yemen has not yet reached the stage of damaging peace talks with the Houthis through back channels.
For his part, Omani Minister of Foreign Affairs Youssef bin Alawi said that Iran is a big country in the region, and that if it is challenged, this will not help in calming the situation, stressing his country's position in support of peace and stability.
And Youssef bin Alawi - in a speech to him as part of the Munich Security Conference - expressed his country's concern about the possibility of any error by the maritime vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which could create a major problem.
The Omani minister revealed that there are efforts to reduce escalation in the Gulf region.
In his speech to the conference, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani stressed the need for a security agreement for the Middle East region.