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Iran suspends talks with Saudi Arabia – Nour News

Sunday, March 13, 2022 6:04 am | 2 Minute Read

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Ebrahim Raisi (R) meets with United Arab Emirates’ top national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan (L) in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 6, 2021. Sheikh Tahnoon’s visit came as the Emirates and Saudi Arabia both negotiate with Iran amid efforts in Vienna to save Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers. An unidentified interpreter sits at center. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

Iran has suspended talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia, a website affiliated with Iran’s top security body reported on Sunday, without giving a reason for the decision which comes as a fifth round of negotiations was due to start this week.

The news comes a day after Saudi Arabia carried out mass executions that activists said included 41 Shi’ite Muslims, and amid stalled talks on an Iranian nuclear deal in Vienna.

“Iran has unilaterally suspended talks with Saudi Arabia,” Nour news said, without providing a reason. It said no specific date had been scheduled for a new round of talks.

The Saudi government media office CIC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Iran, which are locked in proxy conflicts around the region, started direct talks last year to try to contain tensions. Iraq’s foreign minister said on Saturday his country would host a new round on Wednesday. Read full story

Riyadh in 2016 severed ties with Iran after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran following the execution of a Shi’ite cleric in Saudi Arabia.

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