Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said he held talks with Prince Faisal bin Farhan at a meeting in Jordan this week, FT reported.. He noted that this is a manifestation of Tehran's desire to ease tensions in relations with its neighbor..

This is the first meeting between the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia since 2017..

Tensions between the predominantly Shiite Islamic Republic and the Sunni kingdom have escalated in recent months as Tehran has accused Saudi Arabia and other foreign powers of fomenting the worst outbreak of unrest in Iran in years..

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Last month, Western officials said Washington and Riyadh suspect Iran was plotting an imminent attack on Saudi Arabia..

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Riyadh and Tehran severed diplomatic relations in 2016 after the kingdom's embassy in Iran was ransacked during protests sparked by the execution of a senior Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia..

Hostility between the two countries intensified after Riyadh backed former US President Donald Trump's "

In September 2019, U.S. and Saudi Arabian officials accused Tehran of a missile and drone attack on the kingdom's oil infrastructure that temporarily stopped production of half of its crude oil..

Efforts to ease tensions between the rivals began last year after secret talks between Saudi and Iranian officials took place in Iraq..

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But officials have repeatedly warned that progress is slow, and Saudi Arabia is frustrated that Iran is unwilling to do more to use its influence with Yemen's Houthi rebels to help end the country's more than seven-year civil war..

Saudi Arabia led an Arab coalition that intervened militarily in Yemen in 2015 to counter the Houthis and accuses Tehran of supplying weapons to the rebels, including missiles and drones launched into the kingdom.