An Iranian technical delegation will visit Saudi Arabia this week to prepare for the reopening of Iran's embassy in Riyadh amid a thaw in relations between the two regional powers, Iranian media said Sunday.
The development, reported by the semi-official ISNA news agency, comes days after the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing for the first formal gathering of their top diplomats in more than seven years after China brokered a deal to restore relations between the two archrivals.
"The Iranian technical delegation will visit Tehran's embassy in Riyadh and make arrangements for the reopening of Iran's embassy in Saudi Arabia," ISNA reported.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said Saturday that officials had visited Iran to discuss procedures for reopening Riyadh's diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic.
"The Saudi delegation visited the Saudi embassy in Tehran this morning," ISNA added.
The delegation arrived in Iran to discuss the reopening of its missions after a seven-year absence, Riyadh's Foreign Ministry said.
Cited by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the ministry called the visit part of "implementing the tripartite agreement" reached on March 10 to restore ties ruptured in 2016.
On Saturday, a Saudi "technical delegation" met Iran's chief of protocol, Mehdi Honardoust, at the foreign ministry in Tehran, SPA said.
The two longtime Middle East rivals have now pledged to work together.
When Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian met in Beijing on Thursday they vowed to bring security and stability to the turbulent Gulf region.
"The two sides emphasized the importance of following up on the implementation of the Beijing Agreement and its activation in a way that expands mutual trust and the fields of cooperation and helps create security, stability and prosperity in the region," a joint statement said.
Meanwhile, CIA Director Bill Burns paid an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia last week, expressing frustration about Riyadh's recent rapprochement with Iran, according to a report.
Burns told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the U.S. felt "blindsided" by Riyadh's rapprochement with Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter.
It cited a U.S. official who said Burns discussed cooperation on intelligence and counterterrorism with Saudi officials.
The shock rapprochement between mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, and Shiite-majority Iran, strongly at odds with Western governments over its nuclear activities, has the potential to reshape relations across a region characterized by turbulence for decades.
Under last month's agreement, the two countries are to reopen their embassies and missions within two months and implement security and economic cooperation deals signed more than 20 years ago.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has also been invited by Saudi King Salman to Riyadh, a trip planned to take place after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which ends later in April.
Rabha Saif Allam, a specialist in Middle Eastern affairs at the Cairo Center for Strategic Studies, noted "an acceleration" in the normalization of ties.
She said this means an intensification of meetings "at the economic and security levels", and believes normalization will be sealed by Raisi's planned visit to Riyadh at the end of April.
The United States has for decades been the key diplomatic power in the Middle East and has an alliance, albeit a frequently strained one, with Saudi Arabia.
Washington has cautiously welcomed the rapprochement between the Saudis and U.S. adversary Iran despite the role of China, which it sees as its biggest global challenger.
Iran and Saudi Arabia vie for influence in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.
They also support rival sides in several conflict zones across the region, including in Yemen, where the Houthis are backed by Tehran and Riyadh leads a military coalition supporting the government.
In a separate development on Saturday, Omani mediators arrived in the Yemeni capital Sanaa to discuss a new truce between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia, an airport source said.