Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman has met a number of Iranian officers earlier than a second round of talks between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Prince Khalid stated he conveyed a message from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to Iranian Supreme Chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei throughout Thursday’s assembly in Tehran.
“We mentioned our bilateral relations and subjects of mutual curiosity,” he wrote on X.
“Our perception is that the connection between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia is useful for each international locations,” Iranian state media cited Khamenei as saying within the assembly on Thursday.
Prince Khalid additionally met President Masoud Pezeshkian and Iran’s armed forces chief of workers, Mohammad Bagheri.
“Ties between the Saudi and Iranian armed forces have been enhancing for the reason that Beijing settlement,” Bagheri stated after the assembly, in keeping with Iranian state media.
Saudi Arabia has welcomed Iran’s nuclear talks with the US, saying it supported efforts to resolve regional and worldwide disputes.
Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed in a 2023 deal brokered by China to re-establish relations after years of hostility that had threatened stability and safety within the Gulf area and helped gas conflicts within the Center East from Yemen to Syria.
‘Essential stage’
The Saudi defence minister’s journey coincided with a go to to Iran by the UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi, who warned that the US and Iran have been operating out of time to achieve a deal.
Iranian and US delegations are set to gather in Rome on Saturday for a second spherical of Omani-mediated negotiations, every week after the longtime foes held their highest-level talks since US President Donald Trump deserted a landmark nuclear accord throughout his first time period in 2018.
Since re-entering the White Home in January, Trump has revived his so-called “most stress” coverage imposing punishing financial sanctions in opposition to Iran and threatened navy motion if Tehran doesn’t comply with a deal.
“We’re in a really essential stage of those vital negotiations. We all know we don’t have a lot time, for this reason I’m right here … to facilitate this course of,” Grossi stated on Thursday.
“We’re working laborious and we need to succeed,” he instructed a joint information convention with Iran’s atomic power company chief Mohammad Eslami, acknowledging that the hassle to safe a deal was “not a straightforward course of”.
Requested about US President Donald Trump’s threats to assault Iran, Grossi urged individuals to “consider our goal.”
“As soon as we get to our goal, all of this stuff will evaporate as a result of there will probably be no purpose for concern,” he stated.
In March, Trump sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging talks and warning of attainable navy motion if Iran refused.
Khamenei has cautioned that whereas the talks with the US had began effectively, they may but show fruitless.
“The negotiations might or might not yield outcomes,” he stated on Tuesday.
Western governments have lengthy accused Iran of looking for to amass nuclear weapons functionality, an ambition Tehran has constantly denied.
Because the nuclear deal’s collapse in 2018, Iran has deserted all limits on its programme, and enriches uranium to as much as 60 % purity, close to weapons-grade ranges of 90 %.
Surveillance cameras put in by the IAEA have been disrupted, whereas Iran has barred a few of the Vienna-based company’s most skilled inspectors.
However regardless of the tensions between Iran and the company, its entry has not been fully revoked.
