Feb 20, 2022: According to a report by Reuters, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Saturday that the kingdom wanted to hold a fifth round of direct talks with rival Iran, despite “not much progress” so far, and urged Tehran to change its attitude in the region.

Saudi Arabia and Iran, which severed ties in 2016, began talks hosted by Iraq last year as world powers sought to salvage a nuclear deal with Tehran, which Gulf states deemed flawed for not tackling Iran’s missiles programme and network of proxies.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud said that if the 2015 nuclear deal was restored, it should be “a starting point, not an end point” to address regional concerns, and that Riyadh remained interested in talks with Iran.

“This does not contribute to finding a path to settle that conflict, but we are committed and we are supportive of the United Nations representative,” he said, referring to stalled UN-led efforts for a ceasefire in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are vying for influence in a rivalry that has played out across the region in events such as Yemen’s war and in Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah’s rising power has frayed Beirut’s Gulf ties.

Earlier this month, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi said Tehran was ready for further talks if Riyadh was ready to hold them in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect. Tensions between the two countries escalated in 2019 after an attack on Saudi oil plants that Riyadh blamed on Iran, Tehran denies the allegations, , and continue to simmer over Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

Prince Faisal said Iran continued to provide the Houthis with ballistic missile and drone parts as well as conventional weapons, a charge both Tehran and the group deny.

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