Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressed hope Friday during a visit to Lebanon that diplomatic ties between Tehran and Riyadh could be restored through dialogue between the two regional arch rivals but claimed the Saudis are not ready
Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in January 2016, after protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran and consulate in the second city Mashhad following Riyadh’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Iran and Saudi Arabia back opposing sides in various conflicts in the region, including in Syria.
Conditions for restoring ties
He said the first steps should be resuming talks on reopening Iran’s consulate in Jeddah and Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Mashhad for citizens interested in religious travel.
“But as we see it, Saudi Arabia is not completely ready to work on… normalizing ties,” he told reporters.
Meetings in Lebanon
Amir-Abdollahian met Friday with Lebanese officials including his counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib , caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker Nabih Berri
His first meeting since arrival on Thursday evening was with Hassan Nasrallah, chief of the heavily armed pro-Iranian Shiite movement Hezbollah .
They discussed “possible threats arising from the formation of a government of corrupt people and extremists” in Israel, according to a Hezbollah statement.
Offers to install power plants in Lebanon
Addressing Lebanon’s electricity crisis, the top Iranian diplomat said his country is “fully ready to rehabilitate the power plants in Lebanon, and build new plants if needed, if there is consensus on this matter.”
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