The ambassadors of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the Islamic Republic of Iran have arrived in the two countries to officially assume their duties after a seven-year rupture in ties.
Abdullah Al Anazi arrived in Iran on Tuesday, September 5, hours after his Iranian counterpart Alireza Enayati landed in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Iran
“The directives of the wise leadership – may God support them – confirm the importance of strengthening relations and intensifying communication and meetings between the kingdom and Iran, and moving them towards broader horizons,” Al Anazi said in his first official statement upon his arrival.
He added, “The Kingdom and Iran are neighbours and possess many economic elements, natural resources and advantages that contribute to enhancing aspects of development, prosperity, stability and security in the region, in a way that benefits the two countries and the two brotherly people.”
Al Anazi is a Saudi diplomat who held the position of the Kingdom’s ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman since April 22, 2021, and was previously a member of the Kingdom’s permanent delegation to the United Nations.
Al Anazi won the Prince Turki Al-Faisal Award for “Ideal Employee” for Saudi diplomats in 2006.
Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia
The new Iranian ambassador said, “I believe that relations with Saudi Arabia have formally developed in a positive way.”
He added, “The region needs collective cooperation, and we have started an approach according to our belief and vision that expanding and deepening ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia and at the level of the Islamic world will leave positive effects par excellence.”
Sixty-one-year-old Enayati is a veteran diplomat, and in addition to holding various positions in the Iranian Foreign Ministry over decades, he represented his country as ambassador to Kuwait and was charge d’affaires of the Iranian embassy in Jeddah.
The exchange of ambassadors comes after the two countries reached an agreement in March, with Chinese mediation, to restore diplomatic relations.
In recent months, the two parties exchanged visits at the level of foreign ministers as part of steps to restore relations.
Riyadh and Tehran cut ties in 2016 after Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran were attacked during protests against Riyadh’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
