Iran and the US
are set to hold a second round of talks in Rome about Tehran’s nuclear
programme.
Iran's Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major-General Mohammed Bagheri,
right, receiving Saudi Arabia's Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin
Salman in Tehran [Iranian Army Office/AFP]
Saudi Arabia’s
Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman has met several Iranian officials
before a second round of talks between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s
nuclear programme.
The visit comes
amid growing fears of a potential conflict in the region if diplomatic efforts
fail to resolve soaring tensions between the United States and Iran, with
President Donald Trump repeatedly threatening to bomb Iran if it does not reach
an agreement with the US over its nuclear-related activities.
Prince Khalid
said he conveyed a message from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to Iranian Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during Thursday’s meeting in Tehran.
“We discussed
our bilateral relations and topics of mutual interest,” he wrote on X.
“Our belief is
that the relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia is
beneficial for both countries,” Iranian state media cited Khamenei as saying in
the meeting on Thursday.
Prince Khalid
also met President Masoud Pezeshkian and Iran’s armed forces chief of staff,
Mohammad Bagheri.
“Ties between
the Saudi and Iranian armed forces have been improving since the Beijing
agreement,” Bagheri said after the meeting, according to Iranian state media.
Saudi Arabia
has welcomed Iran’s nuclear talks with the US, saying it supported efforts to
resolve regional and international disputes.
Hamidreza
Gholamzadeh, a political analyst, said the purpose of the Saudi defence
minister’s was likely to express concern about a potential attack on Iran.
“Saudis want to
share their concern and reassure Iran that they would not like … attacks
against Iran and they want better relations with Iran,” he told Al Jazeera.
Iran and Saudi
Arabia agreed in a 2023 deal brokered by China to re-establish relations after
years of hostility that had threatened stability and security in the Gulf
region and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria.
‘Crucial stage’
The Saudi
defence minister’s trip coincided with a visit to Iran by the UN nuclear
watchdog chief, Rafael Grossi, who warned that the US and Iran were running out
of time to reach a deal.
Iranian and US
delegations are set to gather in Rome on Saturday for a second round of
Omani-mediated negotiations, a week after the longtime foes held their
highest-level talks since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark
nuclear accord during his first term in 2018.
Since
re-entering the White House in January, Trump has revived his so-called
“maximum pressure” policy, imposing punishing economic sanctions against Iran
and threatening military action if Tehran does not agree to a deal.
“We are in a
very crucial stage of these important negotiations. We know we don’t have much
time, this is why I am here … to facilitate this process,” Grossi said on
Thursday.
“We are working
hard and we want to succeed,” he told a joint news conference with Iran’s
atomic energy agency chief Mohammad Eslami, acknowledging that the effort to
secure a deal was “not an easy process”.
Asked about US
President Donald Trump’s threats to attack Iran, Grossi urged people to
“concentrate on our objective.”
“Once we get to
our objective, all of these things will evaporate because there will be no
reason for concern,” he said.
In March, Trump
sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging talks and
warning of possible military action if Iran refused.
Khamenei has
cautioned that while the talks with the United States had started well, they
could yet prove fruitless.
“The
negotiations may or may not yield results,” he said on Tuesday.
Western
governments have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons
capability, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.
Since the
nuclear deal’s collapse in 2018, Iran has abandoned all limits on its
programme, and enriches uranium to up to 60 percent purity, near weapons-grade
levels of 90 percent.
Surveillance
cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some
of the Vienna-based agency’s most experienced inspectors.
But despite the
tensions between Iran and the agency, its access has not been entirely revoked.
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