Talks With Saudi Arabia Depend on Riyadh’s Seriousness

Iran said on Monday that further talks with Saudi Arabia aimed at reducing tension between the two Persian Gulf powerhouses depend on Riyadh’s “seriousness”.
Saudi Arabia and Iran launched direct talks this year at a time when global powers are trying to salvage a nuclear pact with Tehran, and as UN-led efforts to end war in Yemen stall.
“We call on Riyadh [to take on] political and diplomatic solutions as well as avoid interference in the affairs of other countries, because we believe that comprehensive regional arrangements will be achieved through mutual respect and understanding of the facts by the countries of the region,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a press briefing. 
“We invite Riyadh to take a diplomatic and political approach and respect the principle of non-interference in other countries, which is the only way forward for the region.”
The kingdom, which cut ties with Iran in 2016, has described the talks as cordial but exploratory, while an Iranian official in October said they had gone a “good distance”.
“There are no new developments in talks with Saudi Arabia and we are still waiting for Riyadh’s response,” Khatibzadeh said, IRNA reported.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have backed opposing sides in regional conflicts and political disputes in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq for years, and Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition waging war against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen since 2015.
Saudi Arabia’s envoy to the United Nations said the kingdom wanted more substantive talks with Iran but claimed that Tehran was so far biding its time and playing “games” in the discussions.
Riyadh’s UN envoy Abdallah Al-Mouallimi told Saudi newspaper Arab News in a video interview published last week that no major results had been achieved.
“We would like to push these discussions toward substantive issues that involve the behaviour of the Iranian government in the region,” Mouallimi said.
“But as long as the Iranians continue to play games with these talks they are not going to go anywhere,” he contended. “The Iranians take a long-term attitude toward these talks. We are not interested in talks for the sake of talks.”