TEHRAN, Oct. 19 (MNA) – Iran’s Ambassador to London said security cooperation in the region cannot happen if Saudi Arabia refuses to recognize Iran’s regional influence.

Iran’s newly-appointed ambassador to London, Hamid Baeidinejad, attended a meeting in UK’s Parliament on Tuesday.

Following the meeting, in a post on his official Twitter account, the Iranian diplomat said “no clear prospect for security coop[eration] in the region so long as Saudis do not recognize Iran's role.”

Baeidinejad accompanied his tweet with a picture of Tuesday’s meeting at the UK parliament:

Hamid Baeidinejad, former director general for political and international security affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry, was the head of the expert team of Iran’s nuclear negotiating delegation.

The Iranian and British embassies have been operating over the past year at the level of charges d’affaires, until Sep. 5, 2016, when the two sides upgraded ties to ambassador level after five years. Nicholas Hopton has been appointed as the new British ambassador to Tehran.

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