The Iranian foreign ministry denied media reports claiming that Tehran has asked Tunisia to mediate between it and Saudi Arabia, Iranian Tasnim news agency reported.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi, told reporters yesterday: “This news is unfounded.”
Earlier in the day, Kuwaiti daily Al-Jarida cited a source familiar with the Iranian foreign ministry as saying that the ministry’s Director General for Middle East and North Africa, Mohammad Irani, visited Tunisia last Friday to “ask his Tunisian counterpart Khemaies Jhinaoui to intervene in the crisis between Tehran and Riyadh and discuss with the Saudis the possibility of holding behind-the-scenes talks between the two countries to resolve differences”.
According to the paper, Jhinaoui promised to convey the Iranian message to Riyadh on the sidelines of the emergency meeting of the Arab foreign ministers which was held in Cairo last Sunday.
The newspaper said the Tunisian authorities have informed the Iranians that the message was delivered to Riyadh and that the Saudis will respond to it after studying it over the next few weeks.
Read: Ghannouchi tells Saudi king of his hope that fraternal ties in the Gulf will be resumed soon