Iran embassy to reopen in Saudi Arabia

Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that the country would re-open diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia in the next two days.

Nasser Kanaani, spokesman of the ministry, said in a statement that the Iranian embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh and consulate general and representative office to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah will officially re-open on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The decision was part of the process to finish implementing the agreements, reached between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume bilateral relations, according to a statement published on the ministry’s website. Iran has appointed Alireza Enayati, a veteran diplomat, as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, a diplomatic source in Riyadh said that the reopening of the Iranian embassy will take place on Tuesday at 6:00 pm in the presence of new Ambassador Enayati. “To implement the agreement…Iran’s embassy in Riyadh, our Consulate-General in Jeddah and the office of our permanent representative to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation will be officially re-opened on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Kanaani said earlier.

Kanaani added that the embassy in Riyadh and its consulate-general in Jeddah had already begun operating to help Iranian pilgrims heading to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, set to start by the end of June. The announcement comes after Tehran named Alireza Enayati as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia last month.

Under a Chinese-brokered deal reached in March, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to re-establish relations, which were severed in 2016 following an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad.