The Saudi envoy celebrates Nowruz at the Iranian embassy in Tajikistan.Just weeks after the two nations decided to reestablish diplomatic relations, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Tajikistan was present at a Nowruz celebration held at the Iranian embassy in the Tajik capital, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Waleed Alreshiadan, the Saudi ambassador to Dushanbe, conferred with Mohammad-Taqi Saberi, his Iranian counterpart, during the occasion. The two envoys were captured in photos shared on IRNA’s Telegram channel shaking palms and cuddling.
According to Saberi, “the relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, as two influential and significant Islamic nations in the West Asian region, can serve as the basis for developing a new trend and a growing role in furthering the interests of the countries and nations of the region.”
The meeting’s date was not provided by the organization. However, the Iranian embassy in Dushanbe announced on Tuesday that it had hosted a celebration to commemorate Nowruz, which was attended, among others, by foreign officials.
This meeting comes after Saudi Arabia and Iran declared earlier this month that they had struck a deal to resume diplomatic relations, mediated by China.
According to the agreement, Saudi Arabia and Iran must execute security and economic cooperation agreements that were made more than 20 years ago and reopen their embassies and missions within two months.
Following an assault on its embassies in Tehran and Mashhad by supporters of the Iranian government in 2016, Saudi Arabia severed ties with the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, spoke by phone earlier on Thursday, according to the Saudi foreign ministry. They congratulated each other on the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started on Thursday in both nations.
To ease the reopening of embassies and consulates between the two countries, the two ministers decided to conduct a bilateral meeting “soon,” the ministry said.
