A sixth round of talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran in Baghdad will take place when conditions are suitable in Iraq, said Iran’s ambassador to Kuwait.
Iran’s envoy to Kuwait, Mohammad Irani, told Al Rai newspaper that talks scheduled last month were delayed due to the “latest development in Iraq” – where a political crisis is preventing the formation of a government.
“There is agreement on resuming discussions with a sixth-round… but we must wait for an Iraqi invitation after the current events in Iraq,” Irani said.
He noted that the talks would aim to reach an agreement for a direct meeting between the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers.
Last year they launched direct talks in a bid to improve relations. Baghdad has hosted five rounds of talks so far, the last in April.
Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran in January 2016 after Iranian protesters, enraged by the Saudi execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, stormed its embassy in Tehran.
In the years that followed, the kingdom pursued a confrontational foreign policy toward the Islamic Republic, but that stance appears to have changed.
Source: Agencies
