Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that, on Tuesday and Wednesday, it will also reopen its consulate in Jeddah and its permanent representative to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a Saudi-led 57-member body aimed at protecting global Muslim interests.
The embassy and consulate have already resumed their activities to help facilitate pilgrimages to Mecca, Islam’s holiest site, said ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani.
The missions had been closed since 2016, when Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, who had emerged as a leader in the Shiite-majority Eastern Province in the Sunni-majority country. Iranian protesters stormed and torched the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, protesting his execution, after which Riyadh severed all diplomatic ties with Tehran.
Saudi Arabia often accuses Iran of sowing strife among the kingdom’s Shiite minority, and often accuses citizens of spying on Iran’s behalf, executing dozens over the years.
The rivalry ballooned, playing itself out in various conflicts in the region, including Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. In 2019, tensions reached new levels when Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched a series of drone attacks on Saudi state-run oil giant Aramco, halving the kingdom’s oil output for days. Similar attacks have followed, the latest as recent as last summer.
Riyadh places blame on Iran for arming the Houthis, who have waged a war against a Saudi-led coalition that seeks to restore Yemen’s government.
Iran is not the only country Saudi Arabia has patched up relations with recently: In April, Riyadh announced that it would reestablish relations with Syria, and has fast-tracked peace negotiations with Yemen’s Houthis.