Iran has suspended a fifth round of talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia, Nour news, a web site affiliated with Iran’s top security body reported on Sunday.
Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Fuad Hussein on Saturday said his country would host a new round of talks between the countries starting on Wednesday.
The Saudi Arabian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Iran has unilaterally suspended talks with Saudi Arabia,” Nour news said, adding that no specific date had been scheduled for a new round of talks.
Diplomats hope the opening of direct channels between Tehran and Riyadh will signal an easing of tensions across the Middle East after years of increasing hostilities.
Iran and Saudi Arabia, which severed diplomatic ties in 2016, started direct talks hosted by Iraq last year as UN-led efforts to end the war in Yemen stalled.
They have held four rounds of talks in Iraq, with Baghdad hoping its mediation would stop the neighbors from seeking to settle scores on its territory. Riyadh has described the talks as cordial, but exploratory, while Tehran said they had gone a “good distance.”
Riyadh and Tehran have backed opposing sides in regional conflicts in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq for years, and Saudi Arabia has led a coalition waging war against the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen since 2015.
Meanwhile, talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal face the prospect of collapse after a last-minute Russian demand forced world powers to pause negotiations, despite negotiators having reached the final stages of 11 months of discussions to restore the deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
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