Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan visits Iran to re-establish diplomatic ties

Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan visited Iran on Saturday as part of measures to re-establish diplomatic ties between the country. This was the first visit of a senior Saudi official in over seven years.

The Saudi minister was received by his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian.

The two ministers reportedly hailed the restoration of ties between the middle eastern countries, which was brokered by China.

Saudi Foreign Minister carried a message from the Saudi king to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the two were due to meet later Saturday.

The visit comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Saudi Arabia earlier in June.

In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions.

Prince Faisal is expected to officially inaugurate the kingdom's embassy in Tehran later on Saturday. Until the mission is completed, the employees are working from a Tehran hotel.

Both nations reopened their diplomatic missions in recent weeks. The agreement to re-establish diplomatic relations was a major breakthrough brokered by China, lowering the chances of further conflict between Riyadh and Tehran, both directly and in proxy conflicts around the region.

Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks in recent years following the United States' unilateral withdrawal from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.

Relations between the predominately Shiite Iran and the majority Sunni Saudi Arabia have long been tense.

The kingdom broke ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic posts there.

Saudi Arabia had executed a prominent Shiite cleric along with 46 others days earlier, triggering the demonstrations.