DUBAI, June 2. /TASS/. Foreign Ministers Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and Hossein Amir Abdollahian of Iran held talks on the sidelines of the Friends of BRICS meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the Saudi foreign ministry said on Friday.

The ministers "discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations in many fields, in addition to following up the steps to implement the agreement between the two countries signed in Beijing, including intensifying bilateral work to ensure international peace and security," it wrote on its Twitter account. "The two sides expressed their aspiration to intensify consultative meetings and discuss ways of cooperation to achieve more positive prospects for bilateral and multilateral relations, in order to serve the interests of the two countries and peoples."

Relations between Riyadh and Tehran became strained in March 2015 after a Saudi-led coalition launched a military operation in Yemen against the Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement. Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran in January 2016 after its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in Mashhad were attacked by crowds protesting against the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric, in Riyadh.

On March 10, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to normalize bilateral relations and open embassies within two months. Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani and Minister of State, National Security Advisor of Saudi Arabia Musaad bin Mohammed Al Aiban held talks in Beijing for several days, after which a trilateral statement was adopted. The statement says that the countries are committed to the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs and plan to resume cooperation in the areas of trade, the economy, culture, science and technology.

On May 11, Abdollahian said that Saudi Arabia had appointed a new ambassador to Tehran and on May 23, the Iranian Tasnim agency reported that Iran had also appointed an ambassador to Riyadh.