WANA (Mar 19) – Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held his final presser of the Iranian calendar year today March 19th one day before the advent of Nowruz, the new year.

 

Amir-Abdollahian hosted many journalists at the foreign ministry where he responded to a plethora of questions, from the recent talks with Saudi Arabia to a prospective prisoner exchange with Belgium.

 

Regarding Saudi Arabia, the FM said that Iran has announced to the Saudis that it is ready to host a meeting of foreign ministers and has “proposed 3 locations” for this event to take place.

 

Iran and Saudi Arabia came to an agreement to resume relations weeks ago in a deal brokered by China in Beijing. Ever since news of the event broke, many have been anticipating Iran to resume relations with other nations in the region it has long cut ties with such as Egypt and Bahrain.

 

Abdollahian said: “We have exchanged messages with officials in Cairo through our interests’ office to work out the expansion of relations between Iran and Egypt.”

 

Rumors broke that Iran is set to resume relations with Bahrain and open its embassy in Manama, to which the foreign minister responded that Iranian officials and the Sultan of Oman have been in talks with Manama officials about this matter.

 

Abdollahian mentioned the war in Ukraine as well, stating that Iran “does not support either side of this war” and the delivery of weapons by Europe to Ukraine serves no purpose other than elongating this already long war.

 

Abdollahian said: “Despite close relations with Russia, we have not recognized the separation of Crimea and other regions from Ukraine.”

An Iranian Army helicopter crew member is seen during a joint naval military drill between Iran, Russia, and China in the Gulf of Oman, Iran March 15, 2023. Iranian Army/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

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