Iran Foreign Ministry official’s take on Raisi Qatar visit, Tehran-Riyadh talks

Enayati said in an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that Raisi’s trip to Qatar last month indicated that his administration attaches great importance to ties with neighboring countries including the Persian Gulf states.

He referred to the signing of fourteen memoranda of understanding between the two sides, calling it one of the most important parts of the visit which showed that the two neighbors have extensive cooperation in different fields.

He praised the bilateral agreement to waive travel visas between Iran and Qatar as one of the important political deals during the trip.

Enayati noted that the two countries possess some of the world’s largest gas reserves and can have long-term cooperation in this field.

Iran-Saudi Arabia negotiations

The senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official went on to say that Saudi Arabia is pursuing negotiations to resolve its problems with Iran and that Tehran welcomes this approach.

He noted that the two countries have held four rounds of talks in Iraq over the past year, expressing hope that the dialog will reduce misunderstandings.

The Iraqi government has been brokering negotiations between Riyadh and Tehran on mending relations which were cut in 2016.

“Our progress has been minimal. That is, we cannot look at this issue optimistically and say that 100% of what we expected has been achieved, we can neither consider it zero,” Enayati explained.

He described the return of Iranian diplomats to Jeddah in January to take up posts at the headquarters of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as a small step forward