In April 2023, Iran and Saudi Arabia formally restored diplomatic relations, and in early June, the Iranian embassy in Saudi Arabia officially reopened. On June 14, China Media Group correspondent Li Jiannan interviewed Iranian ambassador-designate to Saudi Arabia Alireza Enayati exclusively on the issues of Iran-Saudi relations and the regional situation.
The agreement between two Muslims nations comes seven years after ties between the regional heavyweights was ruptured when the Saudi embassy in Tehran was ransacked by Iranian protesters angry at a mass execution of 47 people in Saudi Arabia. Among those executed in 2016 was Saudi Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent figure who’d led protests against the government demanding greater rights for the large Shia minority in the Sunni Muslim-led kingdom.
