TEHRAN (FNA)- A prominent Iranian legislator called on Tehran and Riyadh to seize the opportunity to improve their relations in different fields.There are good grounds for cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, member of the Parliaments National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Abbasali Mansouri Arani told reporters.
Mansouri Arani said that expansion of ties with neighboring states, including Saudi Arabia, is a top priority of Irans foreign policy doctrine.
He pointed to the abundant commonalities of the Muslim nations, and said, We should not allow the Zionist regime (Israel) and certain enemies of the Islamic world to prevent relations among Muslim nations.
In similar remarks last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined the need for the further expansion of the bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia.
We should move forward with a realistic outlook, Zarif said in a meeting with Saudi Arabia's new Ambassador to Tehran Abdel Rahman bin Qerman Al-Shahri in the Iranian capital.
The Iranian foreign minister underlined that the grounds are ready for broadening the bilateral relations between the two countries.
He noted that ties between Tehran and Riyadh are based on the principles of good neighborliness as well as religious and cultural commonalties, and expressed the hope that the new Saudi ambassador would open a new chapter in the relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
He also wished the new Saudi ambassador full success in expanding the bilateral relations and cooperation between the two Muslim kingpins during his mission in Tehran.
The Saudi ambassador, for his part, pointed to the existing opportunities for expanding relations between the two countries, and underlined the need for Tehran and Riyadh to broaden their mutual cooperation.
I will make my utmost efforts to help promote relations between the two Muslim states, Al-Shahri said.
Earlier this month, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi underlined the vital role of Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in the region, and called for the expansion of cooperation among them to improve the regional conditions. I believe Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are three major countries in the region with special positions. Saudi Arabia is home to the Qibla (direction towards which Muslims perform their daily prayers) for 1.5 billion world Muslims; the birth place of our Prophet (P), and the land for which the hearts of all Muslims beat, Salehi said in a dinner banquet thrown by the Palestinian ambassador in the honor of the new Saudi Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad Madani visiting Tehran.
Iran, too, is highly significant geopolitically and Turkey is great from the historical and many other points of the view, and these three countries cooperation will be highly important and beneficial, he added.
Salehi said that despite the differences of opinion that these three countries have with each other those differences should not be permitted to lead to further distancing of them from one another, knowing that there are lots of points on which they can reach agreement about them.
By Fars News Agency
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