Iran and Saudi Arabia held a fifth round of ‘good’ talks on normalising bilateral relations in Baghdad last Thursday, according to Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh.
Saudi Arabia, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country, and Iran, a Shi’ite country embroiled in proxy wars across the Middle East, began formal discussions last year to try to defuse tensions.
However, after Saudi Arabia murdered 81 individuals in its largest mass execution in decades, Iran terminated the negotiations without offering a reason in March. Tehran condemned the deaths of 41 Shi’ite Muslims, according to activists.
‘The fifth round of discussions between Saudi Arabia and Iran was held in Iraq, and the conversations were constructive and positive,’ Khatibzadeh said during a weekly press conference carried on state television.
Iraq’s Foreign Minister, Fouad Hussein, announced on Sunday that Baghdad would host a new round of talks.
‘Initial talks between Tehran and Riyadh on sending 40,000 Iranian pilgrims to the haj in Mecca’ this year, Khatibzadeh added.
In 2016, after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran following the killing of a Shi’ite preacher in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh severed ties with Tehran.
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