King Salman has invited the President of Iran to visit Saudi Arabia

International Desk: Riyadh has invited the President of Iran Ibrahim Raisi for an official visit to Saudi Arabia. It is said that Saudi King Salman has officially invited this by sending a letter. Iran's president was invited to visit Saudi Arabia just a week after the two Middle Eastern rivals agreed to restore diplomatic ties. In a report on Monday (March 20), the British media BBC reported this information. The report said that the letter sent by King Salman of Saudi Arabia has invited Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi for an official visit to Riyadh. However, Saudi Arabia has not yet confirmed this. According to the BBC, the recent history of the Middle East speaks of antagonism between Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, with the mediation of China, Iran and Saudi Arabia have recently agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations after seven years. As a result of this, trade and security cooperation between the two rival countries will start again. Along with this, the two countries will also open their embassies in each other's capital within two months.

Which can reshape the geopolitics of this region of West Asia. A senior Iranian official named Mohammad Jamshidi tweeted about the invitation to visit the Saudi capital, Riyadh. He said President Raisi welcomed the Saudi invitation and "stressed Iran's readiness to expand cooperation". Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdullahian told reporters that the two countries had agreed to hold a meeting at the level of foreign ministers and proposed three possible locations for the meeting. However, he did not name the places and did not say exactly when the meeting could take place. The BBC's Middle East editor, Sebastian Usher, said the recent improvement in bilateral relations, which came unexpectedly after days of talks mediated by China, appeared to be building momentum.

Both countries have announced they will reopen embassies in each other's countries within two months and restore trade and security ties. The latest development has been cautiously welcomed by many, including the United States and the United Nations, after several attempts at reconciliation between the two countries have failed in the past. Saudi Arabia is a close ally of the US and has strained relations with both Iran and China. Again, in the civil war going on in Yemen, Iran and Saudi Arabia support and cooperate with the two opposing sides. Since 2016, there is no diplomatic relationship between these two major countries in the Middle East. That year, the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked after Saudi Arabia executed a Shia leader. And then there was a dramatic deterioration in the relationship between the two countries. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in January 2016 after mainly Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Since then, tensions between these Sunni and Shia-led neighbors have often persisted. These two countries consider each other as a threat to their regional hegemony.

In addition, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been engaged in indirect fighting as opposing sides in several regional conflicts, including the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdullahian also said Iran is hopeful of taking steps to improve relations with Bahrain as well. The country, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in 2016, following Riyadh. He said, "We hope that some of the existing obstacles between Iran and Bahrain will be removed and we will take initial steps to reopen the embassies." But last week, Bahrain welcomed the Iran-Saudi deal to restore diplomatic ties. Iran has also expressed its willingness to resume or improve relations with other regional Arab rivals, including Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.