TEHRAN – Iran’s newly-appointed ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alireza Enayati, met on Monday with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi before leaving Tehran for Riyadh. 

In this meeting, President Raisi underlined the need to boost relations with neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia. He called for drawing on the existing capacities to expand Tehran-Riyadh relations. He said stronger cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia would uplift the status of the region in global equations and reduce the need for foreign presence in the West Asia region. 

Enayati said in remarks to IRNA that he will head to Riyadh on Tuesday following a landmark deal with the Arab country to resume diplomatic relations with Iran. 

Enayati met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian ahead of his departure. He said he received recommendations from the foreign minister regarding boosting relations with Saudi Arabia. “We hope to be able to move ahead with these relations within the framework of the principle of neighborliness, which is the concern of the honorable President Ayatollah Dr. Raisi,” Enayati said in remarks to state news agency IRNA. 

Iran and Saudi Arabia signed a Chinese-brokered agreement on March 10.  Enayati said Tehran and Riyadh have made a lot of efforts to fully resume relations. “God willing, I am leaving for Riyadh on Tuesday, and according to the information received from the honorable ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Tehran, he will also travel to Iran in the same period of time,” the new ambassador said. 

He pointed out that Iran and Saudi Arabia have so far proceeded well in restoring relations within the framework of the Raisi administration’s neighborliness policy which is also backed by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei. “This is a prelude to more bilateral and multilateral work between Iran and Saudi Arabia. We hope to be able to move forward within the framework of this policy and advance these relations with Saudi Arabia in various bilateral, political, economic, security, commercial, investment, cultural, popular, tourism dimensions, as well as in regional and multilateral sectors,” Enayati continued. 

Underlining that the West Asia region needs collective cooperation, the new ambassador said, “We have started a path that we believe in and we think that the development and deepening of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in different dimensions, bilaterally, multilaterally, in the Islamic world and in the extra region will have positive and effective effects. This cooperation can be achieved with the determination of the two sides. On the Iranian side, there is this determination and seriousness. We see such determination and seriousness on the Saudi side and we hope that Iran and Saudi Arabia, as two influential countries in the region, will be able to establish a successful model of cooperation in the region by working together. Our region needs partnership and cooperation in different dimensions, and as much as the cooperation between the countries of the region is strengthened and developed, the opportunity for the presence of foreigners will decrease.”

Enayati also addressed the need for a collective forum in the Persian Gulf region; one that would include all the eight countries of the strategically important region. 

“In his talks and his trip to the countries of the Persian Gulf region, the honorable foreign minister emphasized the issue of establishing a regional dialogue forum. This means that the eight countries of the Persian Gulf can sit around the same table and cooperate with each other in the fields in the region, considering the many capacities that exist,” Enayati said. 

He added, “This cooperation will bring about endogenous security and strengthen its foundations, and our region will not need the presence of foreign forces.”