Foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Iran meet in Beijing to discuss restoring diplomatic relations

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met Thursday in Beijing and discussed the implementation of the agreement reached by the two countries nearly a month ago with Chinese mediation to restore diplomatic relations.

Saudi Arabia's Al-Ekhbariya TV, Iran's state news agency and Chinese media broadcast video footage showing the two ministers shaking hands in front of cameras.

Al-Ekhbariya TV said Ben Farhan and Abdollahian held an expanded meeting that included the delegations of the two countries, during which they discussed the implementation of the agreement to restore relations on several levels.

For its part, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that the meeting discussed files of restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries and practical measures to open the two embassies and their diplomatic representations.

Video | Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan meets Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in China #الإخبارية pic.twitter.com/huLiSqaMgy

— Al-Ekhbariya Channel (@alekhbariyatv) April 6, 2023

On the tenth of March, a joint statement was issued between Iran, Saudi Arabia and China, in which Tehran and Riyadh announced the agreement to "resume diplomatic relations between them and reopen their embassies and representations within a maximum period of two months."

Days after the agreement, the Saudi foreign minister made it clear that the agreement with Iran was based on respect for the sovereignty of states and good neighborliness.

For his part, the Iranian foreign minister said in an interview with Al Jazeera late last month that the normalization of his country's relations with Saudi Arabia will extend its positive effects to neighboring countries.

The China-brokered deal would end a seven-year diplomatic rupture between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Riyadh and Tehran have been in direct talks since 2021 in an attempt to contain tensions between them, and the two sides held rounds of talks in Iraq before the agreement to restore relations was announced.