Riyadh– Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks on Wednesday in Saudi capital Riyadh on variety of topics including bilateral relations, situation in Lebanon and Gaza.
Araghchi traveled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for talks covering efforts to end fighting between the Israeli military and Iran-backed groups in Gaza and Lebanon.
“I hope that these consultations can lead to better conditions for Palestine and Lebanon and establish peace in the region,” Araghchi told Iranian state television upon his arrival in Riyadh.
Besides the Crown Prince and Iranian minister, the meeting was attended by Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Defense, Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of State, Cabinet Member and National Security Advisor Dr. Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban.
Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on X that Araghchi’s visit would focus on stopping “the Israeli regime’s genocide & aggression” and aimed to “alleviate the pain and suffering of our brothers and sisters in Gaza and Lebanon”.
The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that Araghchi also met with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, to discuss “developments in the region”, SPA said, without providing details.
Araghchi’s visit to Saudi Arabia comes as the region awaits Israel’s response to an Iranian missile attack on its territory last week.
“Saudi will confirm that it will not allow any party to use its airspace to attack the other and will also agree to any call for a ceasefire in Lebanon or Gaza,” Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the government, told AFP.
In Beirut on Friday, Araghchi said Tehran supports efforts for a “simultaneous” ceasefire in Lebanon and the Palestinian territory.
The Islamic Republic called Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel “a turning point in the history of the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people against Israel”.
SAUDI-IRAN RELATIONS
Shia-dominated Iran and Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia resumed relations in March 2023 under a surprise China-brokered deal following a seven-year rupture.
Iran has repeatedly accused its arch-foe Israel of committing genocide and war crimes since the Gaza war began.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites, paused US-brokered talks on recognizing Israel after the Gaza war broke out.
Saudi officials said they wanted a pathway toward a Palestinian state as a condition of normalization.
But last month, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, toughened his tone, explicitly saying that an “independent Palestinian state” was necessary.
Since the March 2023 Iranian-Saudi rapprochement was announced, the regional powers have intensified their contacts despite supporting different camps in several conflicts, most notably in Syria and Yemen.
The two exchanged ambassadors and visits of foreign ministers before the late Ebrahim Raisi made the first visit by an Iranian president to the kingdom in 20 years to attend a joint Arab-Islamic summit to discuss the Gaza war last November.
In August, Ali Bagheri, then Iran’s acting foreign minister, visited Jeddah for an extraordinary session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.
Araghchi assumed the post of Iranian foreign minister later in August.
CEASEFIRE: HEZBOLLAH SAID YES, NETANYAHU SAID NO
Hezbollah told the Lebanese authorities it accepted a ceasefire with Israel the day an Israeli strike killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah, a government source told AFP on Wednesday.
Previously, the Iran-backed militant group had said it would only accept a truce if there was also one with its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza.
“On September 27, Hezbollah officially informed the Lebanese government, via parliament speaker Nabih Berri, that he accepted an international initiative for a ceasefire,” the source said.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati was at the UN General Assembly in New York that day when the United States and its allies put forward a proposal for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon.
Mikati informed his counterparts of Hezbollah’s position, the source said, and international negotiators were waiting to hear back from Israel.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his speech to world leaders the same day that there would be no let-up in the battle against Hezbollah until Israel’s northern border was secured.
After he spoke, Israel’s air force carried out a huge strike on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, killing Nasrallah.
Since his death, the Lebanese government “has had no contact with Hezbollah”, the source added.
The group’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said on Tuesday that the party was “meticulously organized” and had overcome “painful blows”.
He said Hezbollah supported efforts led by Berri, a powerful Shiite ally of Hezbollah, for a ceasefire in Lebanon, independent of Gaza truce efforts.
Hezbollah a year ago opened what it calls a “support” front for Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack sparked the Gaza war.
But Israel has increased its strikes against Hezbollah since September 23, killing more than 1,190 people in Lebanon and displacing more than a million from their homes.