Iran suspends scheduled round of talks with Saudi Arabia – report

Iran has suspended the latest round of talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia, a website affiliated with Iran’s top security body has reported.

Iraq’s foreign ministry had announced on Saturday that it would host the talks on Wednesday. The Iraqi foreign minister, Fuad Hussein, revealed the development during remarks at a diplomatic forum in Antalya on Turkey’s southern coast cited by local media. A foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed the comments to Reuters.

But a day later the website Nour news reported that “Iran has unilaterally suspended talks with Saudi Arabia”, without providing a reason. It said no specific date had been scheduled for a new round of talks.

The Saudi government media office CIC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Diplomats had hoped the opening of direct channels between Iran and Saudi Arabia would signal an easing of tensions across the Middle East after years of hostilities that have brought the region close to a full-scale conflict.

The regional rivals had severed diplomatic ties in 2016, but had held four rounds of talks in Iraq, with Baghdad hoping its mediation would stop the neighbours from seeking to settle scores on its territory.

Saudi Arabia has described the talks as cordial but exploratory, while Tehran says they had gone a “good distance”.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have backed opposing sides in regional conflicts and political disputes in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq for years, and Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition waging war against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen since 2015.

Talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on Friday faced the prospect of collapse after a last-minute Russian demand forced world powers to pause negotiations for an undetermined time despite having a largely completed text.

Negotiators have reached the final stages of 11 months of discussions to restore the deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme, long seen by the west as a cover for developing atomic bombs.

source: theguardian.com