TEHRAN, March 10. /TASS/. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to China and his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping have laid the groundwork for closer consultations between Tehran and Riyadh on the normalization of relations, Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on Friday.

"President [Ebrahim] Raisi’s visit to China in February and his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping served as the basis for organizing new and very serious talks between the Iranian and Saudi [Arabian] delegations," the Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying.

"I laud China’s constructive role in promoting the development of relations between countries, which is necessary for strengthening peace and stability," he noted.

Tasnim reported earlier on Friday that Iran and Saudi Arabia had agreed to normalize bilateral relations and planned to open embassies within two months. Shamkhani and his Saudi counterparts had held talks in Beijing for several days, after which a trilateral statement was adopted.