TEHRAN, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that Iran and Saudi Arabia appear to have the political will to take a new step toward repairing bilateral relations, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Making the remarks at a weekly press conference, Nasser Kanaani said the two countries seem to currently agree on the adoption of a "constructive" approach toward the resumption of the talks on the normalization of bilateral relations, of which five rounds have so far been held.
He said in view of the current atmosphere, the possibility exists for holding a new round of the Tehran-Riyadh talks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
"Iraq is trusted by both sides of the negotiations," Kanaani added, stressing that both Iran and Saudi Arabia welcome the Iraqi efforts.
He described as "positive" the recent remarks by Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud about Riyadh's preparedness for the continuation of the talks with Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart held a meeting last week on the sidelines of the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership in Jordan's Amman, marking the highest-level engagement reported between the two countries since they severed ties in 2016.
Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran in early 2016 in response to attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran after the kingdom executed a Shiite cleric.
To improve bilateral relations and ease regional tension, Baghdad hosted four rounds of direct talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia last year and a fifth round in April this year.
