A news agency affiliated with Iran’s top security body said on Saturday that a fifth round of tension-easing talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia has resumed in Baghdad after a six-week hiatus.
The marathon talks, underway since April last year, between the two estranged Middle East neighbors were “temporarily suspended” on March 13 by Iran without any reason.
After a statement by Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, who told a diplomatic forum in Turkey’s Antalya that the fifth round of talks between Tehran and Riyadh will be hosted by Baghdad, the suspension was announced.
The talks between the high-level representatives of the two countries resumed in a “positive atmosphere” in the Iraqi capital, a news agency close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said in a Twitter post on Saturday.
It said the meeting has “raised hopes” for the two countries to “take a step” toward the restoration of diplomatic relations. Negotiations broke down in 2016 after Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran were stormed by angry protesters over the execution of a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia.
A meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries will be held in the “near future,” pointing to a likely breakthrough, the news agency further said.
Iran or Saudi Arabia have yet to confirm the report.
