Saudi, Iran FMs to Meet in Beijing on Thursday

An Iranian official and a Saudi press report said that the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran will meet in Beijing tomorrow, Thursday, to arrange the next steps for their diplomatic rapprochement under a Chinese-brokered agreement.

The meeting between the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, will be the first official meeting between the two countries' chief diplomats in more than seven years.

Tehran and Riyadh have recently agreed to end their diplomatic dispute and reopen their embassies under a landmark agreement that China facilitated last month.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters: "The two chief diplomats agreed to meet on the sixth of April in Beijing because China facilitated the agreement."

Asharq Al-Awsat, a daily Saudi newspaper, quoted an unnamed source in Riyadh as saying that choosing China as a venue for the meeting "is an extension of Beijing's positive role in reaching an agreement and facilitating communication between the two countries."