Saudi Arabia, Iran on Verge of 5th-Round of Talks Soon

ALBAWABA - Saudi Arabia will continue talks with Iran according to news source. The meeting that began in Iraq are set to continue despite the fact that little progress has been achieved.

The Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud told AFP talks between Riyadh and Tehran have made enough progress to move forward.

“We are committed to a substantive discussion with Iran on addressing the concerns that we and other countries in the region have,” he said. “That would allow us to come to a normal relationship with our neighbors in Iran. We think that an alignment of interests is possible, but that would require to address the concerns that we all have,” al-Saud was quoted by the French news agency.

The expected talks between the two countries would be their fifth. Already they have had four rounds of talks  the Saudi Foreign Minister was quoted by Anadolu as saying. He said the the four previous rounds of talks were merely “exploratory” rather than substantial, but said both sides were committed to engagement according to the Turkish news agency quoting France 24. 

However, he expressed strong reservations about Iran's nuclear negotiations which are set to resume in a few weeks, citing Tehran's past deception about its nuclear activities.
Despite the ongoing talks he denied reports that Saudi Arabia would be withdrawing troops from Yemen. The situation was deadlocked militarily and diplomatically, he said, lamenting that the Houthis had not agreed to a Saudi proposal for a cease-fire earlier this year.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian acknowledged last week during a visit to Lebanon that talks with Saudi Arabia have "gone a good distance" and he is hoping to see the end of tensions in the region.

The statements of the Saudi Foreign Minister was also quoted at length by the Tehran Times who said the Saudis are open to another round of talks and looking forward to it. Prince Farhan added. "It [the talks] had not been scheduled yet but we are open to it.”

After years of rivalry and lack of diplomatic relations, Saudi Arabia and Iran are slowly moving toward mending ties thanks to at least four rounds of behind-closed-doors talks mediated and hosted by the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the Tehran-based English daily newspaper added. 

Tehran and Riyadh have been involved in security-oriented talks in Baghdad ever since April when Tehran also resumed talks with major world powers over reviving a 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). So far, at least four rounds of talks have been held Tehran Times added.