Official: Iran trying to re-open Embassy in Saudi Arabia before start of Hajj in June

Speaking to ISNA, Alireza Enayati, the director general of the Persian Gulf Department at the Foreign Ministry, said Tehran had set up two delegations which are each set to visit the Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate in Jeddah by the end of this week.

He said the Iranian delegates will also visit the Iranian mission to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia as well.

The official said a Saudi delegation similarly visited the kingdom’s Embassy in Tehran and will pay a visit to the Consulate in the northeastern city of Mashhad soon.

Riyadh will subsequently decide the re-opening of the missions after the Saudi delegates are back home, Enyati added.

Iran and Saudi Arabia reached a China-brokered reconciliation deal last month, after some seven years of severed relations. Under the deal, they agreed to re-open their embassies within two months.

Earlier, the foreign ministers of the two countries held a meeting in Beijing for talks on bilateral ties.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has invited President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran for a visit to kingdom. In turn, Tehran also plans to submit a similar invitation to the Saudi monarch.