Iranian FM: We are not in contact with Saudi leadership

TEHRAN

The Saudi leadership has not made any recent contacts with Iran, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif.

Zarif made the assertion at a late Wednesday press conference in Pakistani capital Islamabad, where he is currently on an official visit.

In response to reporters’ questions regarding recent reports that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir had been in contact with Iranian officials, Zarif said: “According to my information, there has been no such contact; the Saudi government has not made any contact.”

Riyadh, he went on to say, “needs to reconsider its regional policies -- then Iran will be ready [for talks]”.

He added: “We want good relations with our neighbors... Our neighbors have not benefited by creating tension with Iran.”

In early 2016, Riyadh severed diplomatic ties with Iran after Iranian protesters stormed its embassy in Tehran to protest the execution by the Saudi authorities of prominent Shia cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.