TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran has confirmed that it held a fifth round of “positive” talks with Saudi Arabia in Baghdad on normalizing bilateral relations.
The two countries started direct fence-mending talks last year, but Iran announced a temporary halt in March after Saudi Arabia executed 81 men in its biggest mass execution in decades.
“The fifth round of talks between Saudi Arabia and Tehran were held in Iraq and the talks were progressive and positive,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a televised weekly news conference on Monday.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Sunday Baghdad would host a new round of talks between Tehran and Riyadh.
Hussein told the official Iraqi News Agency that the fifth round of talks was held a friendly atmosphere earlier this week.
Hussein had earlier stated that the Iraqi government would make every effort in order to create a suitable opportunity for a common understanding between the two regional powers.
Iran’s Nour News, affiliated with the country’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), first announced the fifth round of negotiations on Saturday.
The outlet described the negotiations as “positive”, with the two sides exchanging views on the main challenges hindering the resumption of bilateral relations.
“The positive atmosphere of the recent meeting has raised hopes for the two countries to take a step towards the resumption of relations. It is expected that a joint meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries will be held in the near future,” the news agency said in a tweet in Persian.
Meanwhile Khatibzadeh also condemned the latest acts of aggression by Israeli forces against worshipers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of occupied al-Quds, stating that the issue of Palestine is the top priority of the Muslim world.
“We are witnessing that the first issue of the Muslim world, which is Palestine, has slipped into oblivion. The Zionist regime is cunningly and deceitfully trying to sideline the matter,” he said.
He added that Palestine is still the most crucial issue of the Muslim world, irrespective of all conspiracies being hatched by the Tel Aviv regime against it.
Khatibzadeh also noted that the issue of Palestine is the top priority of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and all freedom-loving countries that stand against racism.
The Iranian diplomat said the normalization of diplomatic relations between some Arab countries and Israel has emboldened the latter to press ahead with its criminal acts.
Elsewhere in his press conference, Khatibzadeh said that the resumption of negotiations in the Austrian capital over the removal of all sanctions that the United States imposed on Tehran is high on the agenda of delegates from the Islamic Republic and the five remaining parties to the 2015 deal.
“Anything to do with Iran, the European Union, Russia, and China has been settled during the talks. [Enrique Mora, the European Union’s] coordinator for the negotiations is pushing through what remains between Iran and the United States,” he said.
He underlined that both Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell agree that the prolongation of the halt of the talks in Vienna on a possible revival of the 2015 deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is not in the best interest of the negotiations.
Khatibzadeh further said a face-to-face meeting would better be arranged as soon as possible.
“No decision has yet been made on the venue and the level of the meeting, but it is high on the agenda. What is important is that the talks have not been stopped and are still underway despite the respite,” the Iranian diplomat pointed out.
Katibzadeh went on to say that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was notified of a transfer of Iranian centrifuge machines from TESA Karaj Complex, a centrifuge component manufacturing workshop near Tehran, to Natanz facility, and that the move took place nearly one year after an act of sabotage damaged cameras at the former site.
“Iran is a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The centrifuges were transferred to a safe location following an act of sabotage and with prior notification of the agency,” he highlighted.
