dubai: Iran and Saudi Arabia have held their first foreign minister-level meeting since the 2013 election of President Hassan Rowhani, official Iranian media have reported, signalling a possible thaw in relations between the rival Gulf powers.
Shia Iran and the conservative Sunni kingdom have been engaged in a bitter contest for influence in the region, evident in political and military struggles in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain and Yemen.
The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, suggested after his meeting in New York with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Saud Al Faisal, that the talks could lead to an improvement in relations.
“Both my Saudi counterpart and I believe that this meeting will be the first page of a new chapter in our two countries’ relations,” Iran’s official Irna news agency quoted Zarif as saying.
“We hope that this new chapter will be effective in establishing regional and global peace and security and will safeguard the interests of Muslim nations across the world.“
Irna reported that Prince Saud, in a reference to the advance of Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria, said he was aware of the sensitivity of the situation.
“We are aware of the importance and sensitivity of this crisis and the opportunity we have ahead of us. We believe that by using this precious opportunity and avoid the mistakes of the past, we can deal with this crisis successfully,” he said.
“These two countries are influential in the region and cooperation between them will have clear effects on the establishment of regional and global security.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry raised the threat of Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria directly with his Iranian counterpart in high-level talks in New York, a US official said.
Kerry met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for more than an hour at a hotel, during which they discussed progress in nuclear negotiations and “also discussed the threat posed by ISIL,” a senior State Department official said, referring to the Islamic State group.
The top US diplomat has said Iran — normally seen as Washington’s arch-foe — has a role to play as the United States seeks to build a coalition to combat the jihadists, who have seized control of a piece of Iraq and Syria. Kerry also discussed his coalition-building efforts with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last week that his government had rejected a request from the United States to join the coalition. Iran and the United States do not have official diplomatic relations, and US officials have not confirmed or denied making such an offer in private.
Washington has however publicly ruled out any military cooperation with Tehran, which it accuses of propping up the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and of being a state sponsor of global terrorism.
Agencies
