Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Iran reopened its consulate general in Jeddah on Wednesday.

The reopening of the mission, which was closed seven years ago, came as an extension of the implementation of a Chinese-brokered agreement signed by Saudi Arabia and Iran last March to resume diplomatic relations.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Director-General of the Foreign Ministry Branch in Makkah Region, Mazen bin Hamad Al-Hamali, and Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Ali Reza Bekdli, as well as Iranian Chargé d’Affairs Hassan Zarnegar.

Iran opened its embassy in the Diplomatic Quarter in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Earlier, Nasser Kanaani, spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, said in a statement that the embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh and the consulate general, as well as Tehran's representative office to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah, would officially re-open on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kanaani stated that the embassy in Riyadh and the consulate-general in Jeddah had already begun work to help Iranian pilgrims heading to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj, set to start by the end of June.

Under the Chinese-brokered deal reached in March, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to re-establish relations, which were severed in 2016 following an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the consulate in Mashhad.