TEHRAN -- Iran will reopen its diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia this week, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday, several months after Tehran and Riyadh agreed to re-establish relations under a Chinese-brokered deal.
“To implement the agreement ..., Iran’s embassy in Riyadh, our Consulate General in Jeddah and our office to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation will be officially reopened on Tuesday and Wednesday,” spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.
Last month, Tehran named Alireza Enayati as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia, which had severed relations in 2016.
He had previously served as assistant to the foreign minister and director general of Persian Gulf affairs at the foreign ministry, according to Iranian reports.
In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to establish diplomatic ties, representing a major breakthrough in the region.
Saudi Arabia broke ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters held angry rallies outside Saudi diplomatic posts in Tehran and the northeastern city of Mashhad during demonstrations triggered by the execution of a prominent Shia cleric and 46 others in the oil-rich Kingdom.
Kanaani added that Iran’s Embassy in Riyadh and its consulate general in Jeddah had already begun operating to help Iranian pilgrims heading to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, or Islamic pilgrimage, set to commence by the end of June.
On Saturday, Iranian Navy chief Rear Admiral Shahram Irani said the country will form new regional and extra-regional alliances to enhance security.
“A joint alliance with naval forces of Iran and regional countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Iraq, will be set up soon,” Irani said in a televised interview.
“Today, regional countries have

realized that the establishment of security in the region requires synergy and cooperation.”
The commander said Iran and Oman have held several joint naval drills in the past but other countries are now eager for collective naval cooperation, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Pakistan and India.
Irani said virtually all the countries located in the northern areas of the Indian Ocean have come to the conclusion that they should stand by Iran and jointly establish security through enhanced synergy.
The contours of the regional alliance is coming into shape a year after the Israeli regime announced that it, together with the United States and their regional Arab allies, would establish what they called a “Middle East NATO” to counter the influence of Iran in the region.
The concept was hyped by American and Israeli military officials ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle East last July. The aim was to forge better coordination between the allies to defend each other against perceived Iranian threats.
The Israeli dream of an anti-Iran alliance, however, has been shattered as a number of Persian Gulf Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia, have since begun shifting their alliances and restoring their relations with Iran.