Iran to Re-Open Diplomatic Missions in Saudi Arabia this Week

The Islamic Republic of Iran says it will re-open its embassy and two other diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia this week, after Tehran and Riyadh agreed in March to end years of hostility.

"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," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on May 5.

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, or Islamic pilgrimage, 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, the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia agreed to re-establish relations after years of antagonism between the regional rivals that had threatened stability and security in the Middle East and helped fuel conflicts in Yemen, Syria and other countries in the region.

Saudi Arabia severed its relations with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran was stormed by protesters during a dispute over Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia’s execution of a Shia cleric.