The speaker of Iran’s parliament has said Tehran is ready to initiate talks with Riyadh.
Ali Larijani made the announcement in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera that broadcasted on Tuesday, days after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) told an English channel he would prefer a peaceful resolution with Iran in resolving regional security disputes, instead of military conflict.
“Iran is open to starting a dialogue with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region,” Larijani said.
“An Iranian-Saudi dialogue could solve many of the region’s security and political problems.”
The tensions in Gulf were increased after the destructive attacks of 14 September on Saudi oil facilities, blocking 50 percent of Saudi oil production. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels said they had carried out the attacks, but both the US and its closes Gulf ally and Iran’s biggest regional rival, Saudi Arabia accused Iran of conducting these attacks, that Tehran has strongly denied.
After the recent attacks, which caused global oil prices to hike, Trump initially raised the possibility of military retaliation, tweeting that the US was “locked and loaded”.
Washington later expanded its lengthy list of sanctions against Tehran by further targeting its central bank, as Trump indicated he did not plan to strike back.