BERUIT: Iran and Saud Arabian capitals will see the reopening of each others' embassies "within days", Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Friday during his Beruit visit.
The announcement comes as the normalisation of bilateral relations, almost two months after the key players in the Middle East announced mending ties under a deal brokered by China.
However, the Iranian minister did not give specific dates for the reopening of the embassies.
The two countries had closed their missions seven years ago in 2016, a year after their ties severed with Saudi and UAE intervention in Yemen's war, motivated by the Iran-backed Houthi movement's overthrowing of the government in the capital Sanaa.
The severed ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran that made them regional rivals have also fueled conflicts across the region, such as Syrian civil war.
"During the last phone call between the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia on Eid ul Fitr, we agreed to work in the next coming days on the reopening of the Iranian and Saudi embassies in Tehran and Riyadh," Reuters cited the official Arabic translation of Amirabdollahian's statement.
The Iranian FM was speaking at the end of his visit to Lebanon where he also confirmed his President Ebrahim Raisi's visit to Syria in "the near future".
The reopening of embassies was discussed by the foreign ministers of Middle Eastern rivals last month when they met in Beijing, paving the way for normalised ties under a surprise China-brokered deal.
"The foreign ministers of the Islamic republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia negotiated and exchanged opinions with the emphasis on the official resumption of bilateral relations and the executive steps towards the reopening of the embassies and consulates of the two countries," the statement released by Iranian foreign ministry had said.
Saudi state TV Al Ekhbariya also reported that Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan had held a meeting in Beijing to "discuss implementing the agreement", airing footage of the pair shaking hands in front of Saudi and Iranian flags, and then talking and smiling.
On March 10, Tehran and Riyadh announced the agreement to restore relations severed seven years ago when protesters in Iran attacked Saudi diplomatic missions.
— Additional input from AFP.
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