Tehran: Serious progress on Gulf security in talks with Riyadh

Baghdad-INA


Iran's foreign ministry spokesman revealed that talks initiated by regional rivals Tehran and Riyadh months ago have made "serious progress" on Gulf security, the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday.
 
Spokesman Khatib zadeh said the two sides had "good" discussions on bilateral relations, which have been severed for more than five years.
 
"Progress on the security of the Persian Gulf has been very serious," he said, without providing further details. 
 
Saudi and Iranian officials have held rounds of talks in Baghdad in April, the most prominent direct contact since Riyadh severed ties with Tehran in January 2016.
 
Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, the Islamic Republic's arch-enemy, is also concerned about Iran's regional influence, accusing it of "interfering" in Arab countries such as Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, and is wary of its nuclear program and missile capabilities.
 
Khatib zadeh's remarks came from New York, where he is with the Iranian delegation participating in the United Nations General Assembly meetings.
 
In his speech to the General Assembly on Wednesday, Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz said he hoped the talks with Iran would lead to "tangible results." 
 
"Iran is a neighboring country, and we hope that our initial talks with it will lead to tangible results to build confidence and pave the way for the aspirations of our peoples to establish cooperative relations based on adherence to the principles and resolutions of international legitimacy, respect for sovereignty, and non-interference in internal affairs," King Salman said in a video address.”
 
He called on Tehran to "stop all support" for armed groups close to it in the region and the importance of "making the Middle East free of all weapons of mass destruction."
 
Khatib zadeh reiterated his country's position that the affairs of the region and relations between its states should take place within a regional framework without international intervention.

Khatib zadeh stressed that the "communication" between the two countries, which began under former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, continued after his successor Ibrahim Raisi took office last August, without specifying whether the two sides had held rounds of discussions since then.