Iran embassy opens in Riyadh

Iran opened its embassy in its old headquarters in the Diplomatic Quarter in Riyadh. Those who attended the opening ceremony included Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Saudi Consular Affairs Ali Al-Youssef, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Ali Reza Bekdli, and the Iranian Chargé d’Affairs Hassan Zarnegar.

The embassy opening comes about three months after a bilateral agreement was reached between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume bilateral relations, brokered by China. Last month, Iran appointed Alireza Enayati, a veteran diplomat, as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry had announced on Monday that the country would re-open diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia in the next two days. Nasser Kanaani, spokesman of the ministry, said in a statement earlier that the Iranian embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh and consulate general and representative office to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah would officially re-open on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kanaani stated that the embassy in Riyadh and its consulate-general in Jeddah had already begun operating to help Iranian pilgrims heading to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, set to start by the end of June.

Under a Chinese-brokered deal reached in March, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to re-establish relations, which were severed in 2016 following an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad.