In a press conference with journalists on Sunday, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian answered a question on the recent agreement on the restoration of ties between Tehran and Riyadh, saying, "In the political relations with the neighbors, in the middle of this Iranian year of 1401 (which ends on March 20), the relations of the two neighboring countries of the UAE and Kuwait with the Islamic Republic of Iran were enhanced to the level of ambassadors, and in the past days, we witnessed the return of Iran and Saudi Arabia relations to normalcy. We had held five rounds of security talks with Saudi Arabia in Baghdad, and during Mr. Raeisi's trip to Beijing, the President of China had already proposed an initiative, which had been approved by the heads of state of Iran and Saudi Arabia."
He said that in the exchange of messages, the Saudi side stressed the need for a round of high-level security negotiations between the two countries, so as a result, the person introduced by the Saudi side and the counterpart of Rear Admiral Shamkhani and a team consisting of security departments, the military and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accompanied Mr. Shamkhani and his Saudi counterpart [in the talks.]"
He emphasized, "I will meet with the Saudi Foreign Minister in the near future, until now we have agreed that the technical delegations from both sides will visit the embassies and consulates general and provide practical preparations for the reopening of the embassies."
The foreign minister said that Iran considers the issue of Yemen to be completely an issue related to the Yemenis, adding, "This is an issue that the Yemeni parties should decide on. Of course, the emphasis on peace, stability and sustainable security in the region has been one of the issues agreed upon by Tehran and Riyadh in these talks."
The top diplomat further said about the recent regional trips of Admiral Shamkhani, who headed the talks with Saudi Arabia in Beijing, that the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and other apparatuses who are involved in the foreign policy-related issues, co-oardinate their efforts with the foreign ministry.
"The dominant aspect of Mr. Shamkhani's trips, which have been accelerated these days, has a security dimension, and in the matter of Iran and Saudi Arabia, due to the suggestion of the Saudi side, we accepted that a final round of high-level security negotiations be held," Amir-Abdollahian also said.
"Regarding the issue of the UAE, we have security issues with the UAE. any times during the trip, both in my conversations with the UAE Foreign Minister and in the last trip they [Mr. Shamkhani] had to the UAE, we discussed our own security concerns, including any threats from the Zionist regime posed to Iran from the UAE soil."
"Mr. Shamkhani went to Iraq today. As you know since about 4 months ago...threats from the territory of the northern Iraqi region have been posed to the Islamic Republic of Iran," he went on to say, adding that Iran will not tolerate any threat to the country's national security from the territory of neighborly, friendly and brotherly Iraq.
As regard to restoring ties with Bahrain, the foreign minister said, "Sultan of Oman during his trip to Manama, the capital of Bahrain, proposed the initiative and idea to return the relations between the two countries to normalcy. About two months ago, a preliminary agreement was reached in this way for Iranian and Bahraini technical delegations to visit the embassies of the two countries."
"We sent our technical team to Manama and visited our embassy and diplomatic premises. Our parliamentary delegation recently traveled to Manama for the IPU meeting," Amir-Abdollahian said.
"We welcome the return of normal relations with the neighboring countries and states in the region, and I hope that some of the obstacles that exist between Tehran and Manama will be removed and we can take appropriate steps in this direction as well," he added.
As regards enhancing ties with Egypt, the foreign minister said that on the sidelines of the Baghdad 2 meeting [in Jordan], we had a short conversation with Mr. Sisi, the president of Egypt, after that, through our Interest Section in Cairo, we exchanged information and discussions with some Egyptian officials on how to improve the political relations between Tehran and Cairo. We always consider Egypt an important country in the Arab world and we welcome any development and progress in the relations between Tehran and Cairo."
KI
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