Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud will visit Tehran on Saturday for talks with senior Iranian officials.

The top Saudi diplomat and his delegation will visit Tehran on June 17 to hold a series of talks with Iranian officials.

Sources had reported earlier that the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Tehran would reopen during the ministerial visit to Iran.

The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia held a meeting in South Africa in early June to weigh plans for the full restoration of relations and broaden regional and economic cooperation between Tehran and Riyadh.

After several days of intensive negotiations hosted by China, Iran and Saudi Arabia clinched a deal on March 10 to restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies and missions after seven years of estrangement.

In a joint statement after signing the agreement, Tehran and Riyadh highlighted the need to respect each others� national sovereignty and refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of one another.

Observers have welcomed the development as a counterweight to efforts aimed at alienating regional countries from each other, arguing that the detente � to the dismay of the US and Israel � has the potential to ease tensions across a region characterized by turbulence for decades.

By Tasnim�