Open again today his embassy Iran at Saudi Arabiain the context of the agreement between Tehran and Riyadh to restore their diplomatic relations.

The ceremony to reopen the Iranian embassy in Riyadh was broadcast live by Al-Hadath TV. According to Iranian officials, the Iranian consulate in Jeddah will also open tomorrow Wednesday.

Last month, Tehran appointed Alireza Enayati, a former deputy foreign minister and ambassador to Kuwait, as head of Iran’s diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia.

For its part, Saudi Arabia has not yet announced the reopening date of its embassy in Tehran, nor the name of its future ambassador to Iran.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran was raided during a standoff between the two countries over Riyadh’s execution of a Shiite cleric. The kingdom then asked Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours, while removing its embassy staff from Tehran.

Relations between the two countries had begun to deteriorate a year earlier when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened in the war in Yemen, where the Iran-allied Houthi movement had overthrown the Saudi-backed government and had captured the capital Sana’a.

Riyadh has accused Tehran of arming the Houthis, who have continued to launch attacks on Saudi cities with drones and ballistic missiles. In 2019, the kingdom directly blamed the Islamic Republic for an attack on Aramco oil facilities, which forced the company to temporarily halve its production. Iran had denied these accusations.

The reopening of the Iranian embassy in Saudi Arabia coincides with the visit of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to the kingdom. The head of US diplomacy arrived tonight in Jeddah, where he will have a meeting with the crown prince and de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. Blinken will travel to Riyadh tomorrow Wednesday to participate in a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council.