Tehran And Riyadh Set To Hold First Public Reconciliation Talks
Saudi Arabia and Iran have reportedly agreed to hold the first public meeting at the level of foreign ministers in Baghdad following rounds of closed reconciliation meetings.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have reportedly agreed to hold the first public meeting at the level of foreign ministers in Baghdad following rounds of closed reconciliation meetings.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told Erbil-based media network Rudaw on Saturday that Baghdad hosted five rounds of talks between Tehran and Riyadh “between intelligence and security officials,” adding that this upcoming round of negotiations will be public.
He did not elaborate when the meeting will take place, adding that “The Saudi crown prince asked us to host the meeting of the Saudi foreign minister with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad.”
On July 21, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Saudi Arabia has shown readiness to advance the bilateral talks from security issues to the political phase. "Last week we received a message from Iraqi foreign minister [Fuad Hussein] saying that the Saudi side is ready to move the talks from a security phase to a political and public one.”
"We also expressed our readiness to continue talks at the political level so that it leads to the return of Iran-Saudi Arabia ties to the normal level," he added.
Late in June, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi traveled to Iran and met with President Ebrahim Raisi after a visit to Saudi Arabia and meeting with the kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aimed at jumpstarting stalled talks between Tehran and Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in 2016 when mobs attacked its embassy in Tehran after Riyadh executed 47 dissidents including the leading Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
A video from a CCTV camera was released on media showing a car, which apparently was following Majid Abdolbaghi’s vehicle as it went into the parking lot, stopped in front of a building, as one man started shooting with a handgun from the front seat and another one got out of the car and started shooting from behind the car. According to reports Abdolbaghi succumbed to injuries after he was taken to hospital.
The Metropol twin towers collapsed on May 23 burying more than 80 people under the rubble, with about 42 bodies recovered. Soon after the collapse it became apparent that the owner and builder, Hossein Abdolbaghi, was a powerful and politically well-connected businessman who had disregarded regulations and building codes, backed by officials, who might have had their own financial interests.
Following the incident, Iranian media initially reported that Abdolbaghi, who was reportedly connected to Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani, had been arrested, but the government later announced that he had died in the collapse. The public did not believe the claim and many said that he escaped and corrupt officials, who had allowed him to violate building regulations, wanted him to disappear.
In June, reports came out that a physician who refused to cooperate in the alleged coverup had died mysteriously.
Earlier in the week, Iran’s prosecutor general issued an indictment against 20 people accused in the case of the Metropol incident.
