Iran-Saudi Talks Suspended
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been brought to a temporary halt, a report said.
The report by the Nour News, affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Sunday that Iran has unilaterally suspended the talks with Saudi Arabia temporarily.
The report came after Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced on the sidelines of the recent Antalya Diplomacy Forum that Baghdad would host the fifth round of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
In separate comments, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud had raised the possibility of holding the fifth round of talks with Iran.
Representatives of Iran and Saudi Arabia have held several rounds of talks in Baghdad in recent months.
Diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh soured following the January 2016 execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh cut ties with Tehran afterwards, responding to attacks by angry protesters on its embassy in the Iranian capital.
Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen as well as the death of hundreds of Iranian Hajj pilgrims in a deadly crush in Saudi Arabia’s Mina in September 2015 had prepared the ground for the deterioration of tensions between Tehran and Riyadh.