Taghribnews (TNA) - Iranian president accepts Saudi king’s invitation to visit Riyadh

Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi has accepted an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to visit the capital Riyadh, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber announced.

“King Salman has invited the [Iranian] president [to visit Saudi Arabia] and a positive answer has been given to that invitation, " Mokhber told Mehr news agency on Monday.

Referring to Iran's relations with Saudi Arabia and other littoral states of the Persian Gulf, he said, "Mr. Raeisi's main strategies since the first day after he was elected president have been based on promoting relations with regional countries."

Mokhber noted that establishing good friendly relations with all neighboring countries is among President Raeisi’s main strategies, which is being pursued right now.

In a post on his Twitter account on March 19, Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president's deputy chief of staff for political affairs, said the Saudi King has extended an invitation to the Iranian president to visit the kingdom, following a recent China-brokered rapprochement deal between the two countries.

The invitation is seen as a significant step towards improving ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

After several days of intensive negotiations hosted by China, Iran and Saudi Arabia finally clinched the deal on March 10 to restore diplomatic relations and re-open embassies and missions within two months.

According to a joint statement, Iran and Saudi Arabia underscored the need to respect the two countries' sovereignty and refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of each other.

They agreed to implement a security cooperation agreement signed in April 2001 and another accord reached in May 1998 to boost economic, commercial, investment, technical, scientific, cultural and sports cooperation.

Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran in January 2016 after Iranian protesters, enraged by the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the Saudi government, stormed its embassy in Tehran.

The two sides had held five rounds of negotiations in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad since April 2021.