DUBAI
\nIran\u2019s foreign minister said on Wednesday he spoke with his Saudi counterpart on the sidelines of a conference in Jordan the previous day, the highest-level encounter reported between officials from the rival states since they cut ties in 2016.
\nThe Middle East\u2019s leading Shi\u2019ite and Sunni Muslim powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been on opposing sides of conflicts across the region including in Syria and Yemen.
\nIraq has hosted five meetings between Saudi and Iranian officials since last year in a bid to ease tensions, the last of which was in April, without achieving any diplomatic breakthroughs.
\nIranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, tweeting in Arabic, on Wednesday listed his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, as one of several foreign ministers with whom he had the chance to hold \u201cfriendly talks\u201d on the sidelines of the Jordan conference.
\nThe Saudi foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
\nAmirabdollahian wrote that Prince Faisal \u201cassured me of his country\u2019s willingness to continue the dialogue with Iran\u201d.
\nIn separate comments reported by Iran\u2019s official IRNA news agency, Amirabdollahian said he had \u201cannounced our readiness to continue the process that started in Baghdad\u201d.
\n\u201cWe are interested in resuming talks with Saudi Arabia and they also wanted it,\u201d he said, according to IRNA.
\nTensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have ticked higher since the eruption of protests in Iran, with the Revolutionary Guards telling Saudi Arabia to control its media and the Iranian intelligence minister warning Riyadh there was no guarantee of Tehran continuing its \u201cstrategic patience\u201d.
\nIran has accused its foreign foes of fomenting the protests, in which Iranians from all walks have life have taken part.
\nA top general in Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards, Esmail Ghaani, on Tuesday referred to Saudi Arabia – a long-standing ally of the United States – as \u201ca scum and not worthy of being an enemy\u201d.
\nIran\u2019s disputed nuclear programme has also added to tensions, with talks between Tehran and world powers on reviving Iran\u2019s 2015 nuclear agreement at a standstill since September.
\nPrince Faisal said earlier in December that the signs were \u201cnot very positive unfortunately\u201d, and that Gulf Arab states would act to shore up their security if Tehran were to obtain nuclear weapons, which Tehran says it is not seeking.
\nThe meeting in Jordan, organised by France and Iraq and aimed at supporting stability in Iraq and the wider region, wrapped up on Tuesday with no word of a bilateral meeting between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
\nAmirabdollahian, in his Tweet, said he also spoke with the foreign ministers of Oman, Qatar, Iraq and Kuwait.
\nReporting by Elwely Elwelly and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai and Aziz El Yaakoubi in Riyadh; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUBAI Iran\u2019s foreign minister said on Wednesday he spoke with his Saudi counterpart on the sidelines of a conference in Jordan the previous day, the highest-level encounter reported between officials from the rival states since they cut ties in 2016. The Middle East\u2019s leading Shi\u2019ite and Sunni Muslim powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-302668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n