Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on March 10 to restore diplomatic relations, reopen embassies and reimplement a 2001 security pact following breakthrough talks in the Chinese capital, Beijing. The kingdom broke off ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters stormed Saudi diplomatic posts in Tehran. Riyadh had executed a prominent Shia cleric days earlier.

“In a letter to President Raisi… the King of Saudi Arabia welcomed the deal between the two brotherly countries (and) invited him to Riyadh,” tweeted Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, adding that “Raisi welcomed the invitation.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters ahead of the announcement that Tehran and Riyadh had agreed to hold a meeting between their top diplomats. He added that three locations for the talks had been suggested, without naming any of them.

According to recent reports, Iran has agreed to cease covert weapons supplies to the Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen as a part of the recent China-brokered reconciliation agreement with Saudi Arabia.

Furthermore, Saudi officials said after the signing the agreement that the kingdom’s territory “will not be used for any military operation against Iran in the future.”

President Raisi’s future visit to the kingdom will be another major breakthrough in Iranian-Saudi relations. The reconciliation between the two Islamic countries is expected to minimize tensions in the Middle East. It could also facilitate an end to the wars in Syria and Yemen as well as a solution to the political and economic crisis in Lebanon.