Iraq is vital to Tehran-Riyadh rapprochement, Saudi MoFA says

Shafaq News/ Saudi Arabia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, on Saturday commended the role of Iraq in catalyzing the rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh. 

Bin Farhan's remarks came during a press conference marking the conclusion of the Security and Development Summit held earlier today, Saturday, in Jeddah in the presence of US President Joe Biden and a group of Arab and Gulf leaders. 

"Iraq played a pivotal role in extending outreaches between Saudi Arabia and Iran in order to find common ground," he said, "the talks held in Baghdad under the auspices of Iraq were positive but not decisive."

The Minister denied conveying messages to Iran via the caretaker Prime Minister of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kadhimi. 

"Iraq is already involved in the talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but we did not ask al-Kadhimi to deliver any messages to Tehran," he said.