Iran`s president invited to visit Saudi Arabia

Riyadh has invited Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi for an official visit to Saudi Arabia. It is said that has officially invited this by sending a letter.

Iran's president was invited to visit Saudi Arabia just a week after the two Middle Eastern rivals agreed to restore diplomatic ties. The British media BBC reported this information in a report on Monday (March 20).

According to the report, the letter sent by King Salman of Saudi Arabia has invited Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi for an official visit to Riyadh. However, Saudi Arabia has not yet confirmed this.

According to the BBC, the recent history of the Middle East speaks of antagonism between Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, with the mediation of China, Iran and Saudi Arabia have recently agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations after seven years. As a result, trade and security cooperation between the two rival countries will begin again.

Along with this, two countries will also open their embassies in each other's capital within two months. Which can reshape the geopolitics of this region of West Asia.

A senior Iranian official named Mohammad Jamshidi tweeted about the invitation to visit the Saudi capital, Riyadh. He said President Raisi welcomed the Saudi invitation and "stressed Iran's readiness to expand cooperation".

Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdullahian told reporters that the two countries had agreed to hold a meeting at the level of foreign ministers and proposed three possible locations for the meeting. However, he did not name the places and did not say exactly when the meeting could take place.

The BBC's Middle East editor, Sebastian Usher, said the recent improvement in bilateral relations, which came unexpectedly after days of talks mediated by China, appeared to be building momentum. Both countries announced they would reopen embassies in each other's countries within two months and re-establish trade and security ties.

The recent development has been cautiously welcomed by many, including the United States and the United Nations, after several failed attempts at reconciliation between the two countries in the past.

Saudi Arabia is a close ally of the US and has strained relations with both Iran and China. Again, in the civil war in Yemen, Iran and Saudi Arabia support and cooperate with the two opposing sides.

Since 2016, these two major countries of the Middle East have not had any diplomatic relations. That year, the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked after Saudi Arabia executed a Shia leader. And then there was a dramatic deterioration in the relationship between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in January 2016 after mainly Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Since then, tensions between these Sunni and Shia-led neighbors have often persisted. These two countries consider each other as a threat to their regional hegemony.

In addition, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been engaged in indirect fighting as opposing sides in several regional conflicts, including the civil wars in Syria and Yemen.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdullahian also said Iran is hopeful of taking steps to improve relations with Bahrain as well. The country, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in 2016, following Riyadh.

He said, "We hope that some of the existing barriers between Iran and Bahrain will be removed and we will take initial steps to reopen the embassies."

Bahrain, however, has yet to respond to the Iranian foreign minister's comments. But last week, Bahrain welcomed the Iran-Saudi deal to restore diplomatic ties. Iran has also expressed its willingness to resume or improve relations with other regional Arab rivals, including Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.