Iran: No development in talks with Saudi Arabia

Talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia have not witnessed any development, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson announced yesterday.

Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters in the Iranian capital of Tehran that his country was “waiting to see Riyadh’s will.”

“Tehran would not negotiate the nuclear deal with our neighbouring countries,” Khatibzadeh said, adding that Iran was not planning to discuss “regional files with European countries.”

On Sunday, the Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal Bin Farhan, told France24 that the Kingdom talks with Tehran would “continue,” and that an “additional round of negotiations” between the regional rivals was expected “soon.”

“The four previous rounds of talks were merely exploratory rather than substantial,” Farhan pointed out, stressing that his country was “committed to come to a normal relationship with our neighbours, Iran.”

In a similar context, the spokesman for the Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy committee at the Iranian parliament, Mahmoud Abbas Zadeh Mishkini, said recently that Saudi Arabia was “one of the most important countries in the region,” noting that it had “priorities and interests in some countries in the region.”

“Iran is seeking formal negotiations and expanding relations with its neighbours,” Mishkini told official IRNA, noting that the committee had discussed “diplomatic relations between Iran and neighbouring countries, especially Saudi Arabia.”

Negotiations between Riyadh and Tehran were first held several months ago in Iraq, where four rounds of negotiations have taken place.

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