Shafaq News/ Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi held their first meeting on Saturday since the rapprochement agreement between the two countries brokered under Chinese sponsorship. last March

The Saudi News Agency (SPA) reported the historic encounter, sharing a photograph of Crown Prince Bin Salman and President Raisi during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the joint summit of Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation leaders in Riyadh.

This marks the initial visit of an Iranian president to Saudi Arabia since the attendance of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit in Jeddah in August 2012. Moreover, it represents the first meeting between an Iranian president and the Saudi royal family since that time.

The diplomatic ties between Riyadh and Tehran were severed in 2016 following an attack by Iranian demonstrators on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad. The incident was in protest against Riyadh's execution of the prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. After years of strained relations, the two nations agreed to resume diplomatic ties and reopen their embassies following a sudden agreement mediated by China in March of the current year.