Saudi Arabia names new ambassador to Tehran: Iran’s FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says Saudi Arabia has named a new ambassador to Tehran, two months after a China-brokered agreement ended a seven-year rupture in bilateral relations.

“Saudi Arabia introduced its new ambassador to Tehran yesterday. We will also name our new ambassador to the Saudi government soon,” Amir-Abdollahian told IRNA on Wednesday.

As part of the reconciliation agreement signed in Beijing on March 10, the two countries agreed to appoint new ambassadors and re-open their embassies within two months.

“My colleagues have been working for weeks to prepare the embassy and consulate for reopening,” Iran’s top diplomat said on Wednesday.

Foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia held their first meeting in seven years in Beijing on April 6, stressing the need to implement the China-brokered agreement.

The detente has been touted by both sides as having the potential to ease tensions across the Middle East region.

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.

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