Relations between the two states have long been spiralling downward, as Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of meddling in its domestic affairs while Tehran has slammed the Saudi military campaign in Yemen as illegal. Riyadh completely severed diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic in 2016 and has not restored them since.
The statements of Saudi Foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir, who recently said that the kingdom would hold talks with Iran only if it starts acting like a “normal” country, did not go without a response from his Iranian colleague, Javad Zarif, for long. The Iranian foreign minister retorted by saying that Saudi's own behaviour in the international arena could hardly be called “normal”, recalling the controversy around the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi as well as the reports of civil casualties and humanitarian crisis allegedly caused by Saudi military involvement in the Yemen conflict.
At the same time, Zarif noted that unlike Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic has set no preconditions for initiating talks on the normalisation of bilateral relations, thus once again demonstrating its willingness to resurrect severed ties with the kingdom. Earlier on 23 January, Zarif stated that Iran “remains open to dialogue with its neighbours” and is ready to work in any format for the benefit of the entire region to bring it “stability and prosperity”.
Ties between the two countries were cut back in…
