Saudi defense minister meets with Iran's Khamenei, gives him a letter from King Salman

Saudi Arabia's Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Thursday, delivering a letter from King Salman, Saudi and Iranian state media reported.

During the meeting, Khamenei expressed support for closer ties between the two countries, foreign media wrote, according to the Telegraph.

"We believe that relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia will be beneficial to both countries and the two countries can complement each other," Khamenei was quoted as saying by the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

"It is much better for brothers in the region to cooperate and help each other than to rely on others," he added.

The Saudi state news agency SPA said that "bilateral relations between the two countries were reviewed and issues and topics of common interest were discussed."

The meeting marked the first time Khamenei hosted a Saudi official since 2006, when then-Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal visited Tehran.

During his trip, Prince Khalid also met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, and the chief of staff of the armed forces, Mohammad Bagheri.

"Iran and Saudi Arabia can solve many of the region's problems by relying on their joint capabilities and without the need for foreign intervention," Pezeshkian said during his meeting with the Saudi defense chief, according to IRNA.

In March 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced that they had reached an agreement, brokered by China, to restore diplomatic relations after seven years without formal ties.

The kingdom had severed ties with Iran in 2016 after attacks by pro-regime protesters on its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad.

In November, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, the chief of staff of the Saudi armed forces, met with Bagheri in Tehran.

The pair discussed "the development of defense diplomacy and the expansion of bilateral cooperation," IRNA said at the time. /Telegraph/