TEHRAN, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Iran officially reopened its consulate general and representative office to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia after seven years of closure, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website on Thursday.
The reopening ceremony, which was held on Wednesday evening, was attended by, among others, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Bigdeli, the caretaker of the Iranian Embassy in Riyadh Hassan Zarnegar, head of Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Abbas Hosseini, and head of the Saudi Foreign Ministry Office in Jeddah Mazen bin Hamad al-Hamoudi, said the statement.
Iran's representative office to the OIC began its operations in 2022 following several rounds of talks between Tehran and Riyadh on the normalization of ties hosted by Baghdad, and the country's consulate general also started operations earlier this year to facilitate Iranians' Hajj pilgrimage, according to the statement.
On Tuesday, Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh nearly three months after the two countries agreed to restore bilateral ties under a Chinese-brokered deal.
In March, Saudi Arabia and Iran reached in Beijing, China a groundbreaking agreement to resume diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies and missions. The two countries in April announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with immediate effect.
Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2016 in response to the attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran after the kingdom executed a Shiite cleric. ■
