Dubai: In a very rare move after the middle east rivals broke off all relations in 2016, Saudi Arabia has allowed through an agreement an Iranian diplomat to head an office representing Iranian interests in the kingdom, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA reporting on Sunday.
“An informed diplomatic source said Sunday that Saudi Arabia had agreed to grant a visa to the head … of Iran’s interests section,” IRNA reported. “Observers saw this … as a positive diplomatic step in Tehran-Riyadh relations.”
As per the reports, the office is expected to be set up within the Swiss diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia under an agreement signed in the year 2017.
After the announcement, there was no clue of immediate official Saudi reaction.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an arch and regional rival of mostly Shit’ite Iran and present itself as the guardian of Islamic orthodoxy and custodian of its holiest places in Mecca and Medina.
After Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran over the issue of the execution of a Shi’ite cleric in Saudi Arabia in January 2016, Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Iran.
Both the nations agreed over the Switzerland’s offer of its traditional policy of good offices and to act as an intermediator between the two countries.
Most recently, Saudi Arabia hailed the decision by US President Donald Trump of withdrawing the United States from an international nuclear agreement with Iran and to reimpose economic sanctions on Tehran in May.
As per the interview published the website of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the spokesman for the ministry said that there had been a “breakthrough” in relations between the two regional rivals.
“Up until two weeks ago, no visa had been issued for the names that we had submitted a long time ago,” spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.
“But within the last week or two, there has been a breakthrough and I think there are indications that the office for the protection of interests will be opened,” he added.
In recent years, tension between the two countries have surged with Saudi Arabia and Iran backing two opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon.
“An informed diplomatic source said Sunday that Saudi Arabia had agreed to grant a visa to the head … of Iran’s interests section,” IRNA reported. “Observers saw this … as a positive diplomatic step in Tehran-Riyadh relations.”
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