Iran seeks ‘best relations’ with Saudi Arabia

The overture was made while Alaeddin Boroujerdi was in Beirut.

Beirut //An Iranian official said on Friday during a visit to Beirut that his country wants good relations with its Middle East neighbours, especially regional rival Saudi Arabia.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, told reporters after meeting with Lebanon’s prime minister Tammam Salam that they discussed “the latest developments in Saudi Arabia”.

Mr Boroujerdi was referring to the death last week of Saudi King Abdallah.

“Iran’s long-term policy is essentially based on establishing the best of brotherly relations with countries in the region, especially Saudi Arabia,” Mr Boroujerdi told reporters.

“We believe that the more that countries in the region consolidate and strengthen their relations, the more we can establish security and stability,” said Mr Boroujerdi.

Iranian-Saudi relations have been strained since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

The two regional power centres have competed against each other for influence, and in recent years, their rivalry has translated into Shiite-Sunni fighting in several countries in the region.

Mr Boroujerdi was in Beirut to take part in a Hizbollah event on Friday honouring fighters and an Iranian official killed on January 18 in an Israeli air raid in southern Syria.

Tehran-backed Hizbollah has sent thousands of its troops into Syria to back president Bashar Al Assad’s regime.

Saudi Arabia is a main backer of the Sunni-dominated rebellion seeking Mr Al Assad’s removal.

On Thursday evening, Beirut-based Mayadeen television channel said Iran’s elite Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani visited Beirut 24 hours after the fighters were killed in Syria.

During his visit, the commander had met with Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and visited the home of Jihad Mughniyeh, one of the fighters killed in the Israeli strike.

On Wednesday, Hizbollah fighters in south Lebanon fired missiles that killed two Israeli soldiers in the occupied Shebaa Farms in the border region.

A Spanish UN peacekeeper was also killed, as Israel and Hizbollah exchanged artillery fire, the most serious clashes between the bitter enemies in years.

* Agence France-Presse