Deputy of Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh and Saudi Assistant Defense Minister Talal bin Abdullah al-Otaibi held a meeting on the sidelines of the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security.
During the meeting, they reached an agreement on exchanging military attachés “as soon as possible”.
It was the first meeting between Iranian and Saudi Arabian military officials since a China-brokered détente enabled the resumption of the countries’ diplomatic relations.
General Nasirzadeh and al-Otaibi considered the agreement to be in line with the interests of both Tehran and Riyadh and other countries of the region and the Muslim world.
The Iranian and Saudi officials also stressed the significance of the role that is played by the countries’ armed forces towards proper implementation of the détente, IRNA reported.
Accordingly, they called it important for the countries to keep up their relevant negotiations and endeavor towards “attainment of the proper roadmap in the field.”
The relations were severed by Saudi Arabia in January 2016, after Iranian protesters, angered by the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the Saudi government, stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.
Back in March this year, however, the two sides clinched the reconciliation deal after several days of intensive negotiations hosted by Beijing, and three months later, each side appointed a new ambassador to the other’s capital.
Many local and regional officials have underscored the historical nature of the rapprochement and its importance to the frustration of Iranophobic plots and smear campaigns that have been led against the Islamic Republic and its goodwill approach towards the countries of the region.
