A
view of the flags of Iran and Saudi Arabia in Tehran, Iran June 17,
2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File
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Saudi armed forces chief of staff in Iran for talks with officials
DUBAI,
Nov 10 (Reuters) - The chief of staff of Saudi Arabia's armed forces,
Fayyad al-Ruwaili, visited Tehran on Sunday to meet with his Iranian
counterpart and discuss defence ties, state media reported the Iranian
Armed Forces General Staff as saying.
The visit follows the election of Donald Trump, who will take office for a second term as U.S. President in January, and who has promised to bring peace to the Middle East.
During
his first term, Trump initiated normalisations between Arab states and
Iran's regional arch-enemy Israel, known as the Abraham Accords.
Saudi Arabia has not established ties with Israel, but Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner
has discussed the possibility with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman multiple times over the last years, a source familiar with
the discussions told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Iran's
state media said al-Ruwaili headed a high-level Saudi military
delegation in Tehran and met Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General
Mohammad Bagheri.
Iranian
state media said the two military officials discussed various issues,
including "the development of defence diplomacy and the expansion of
bilateral cooperation".
State
media added that Bagheri held a phone call with Saudi Arabia's Defence
Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud last year to discuss regional
developments and improve defence cooperation between the two countries.
Separately,
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke with Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman on the phone, Iranian media said.
Pezeshkian
told the crown prince he would not be able to attend a summit of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh due to his busy
schedule, and would be dispatching the Iranian first vice president as a
representative, the Mehr news agency said.
Tehran and Riyadh agreed in March 2023,
via Chinese intermediation, to re-establish relations after seven years
of hostility that had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and
helped to fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria.
Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Editing by Louise Heavens, Barbara Lewis and Giles Elgood