Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, the Saudi Defence Minister, made his first trip to the Islamic Republic of Iran on Thursday. According to Iranian news agency ISNA, Prince Khalid met with Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces. The two senior defence officials discussed “developing defence relations and regional cooperation to strengthen peace and stability in the region, as well as combating terrorism.
The last time a prominent Saudi royal travelled to Iran was in 1997, under the administration of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, and that was decades ago. Salman bin Abdulaziz, the King of Saudi Arabia, is the father of Prince Khalid.
The Saudi-Iranian summit takes place as Tehran and the US negotiate a new nuclear deal, with the US and Israel threatening to attack Iran’s nuclear installations if the talks don’t work out. Iran has issued a warning that any assault on its land would spark a broader conflict in the region. In Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab nations that border Iran, the United States has a military presence.
Before the meeting, the state-run Saudi Press Agency stated that the two officials would hold numerous meetings to discuss bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest. Bagheri also serves as a military officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which Saudi Arabia has classified as a terrorist group.
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