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Iran Vice President: Raisi Accepts Invitation to Visit Saudi Arabia

A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency shows Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi (not pictured) in Tehran on March 4, 2023. (Iranian Presidency / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency shows Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi (not pictured) in Tehran on March 4, 2023. (Iranian Presidency / AFP)
    London, Tehran – Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iran Vice President: Raisi Accepts Invitation to Visit Saudi Arabia

A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency shows Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi (not pictured) in Tehran on March 4, 2023. (Iranian Presidency / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency shows Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi (not pictured) in Tehran on March 4, 2023. (Iranian Presidency / AFP)

Iranian Vice President Mohammad Mokhber revealed that President Ebrahim Raisi has accepted an invitation to visit Saudi Arabia.

He made the announcement hours after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held telephone talks on Sunday.

The FMs discussed the future steps that will be taken after the Kingdom and Iran agreed to normalize relations through a China-mediated deal.

Mokhber told Iran’s Mehr news agency that the presidency’s “main strategy is improving relations with regional countries.”

The rapprochement is not a “coincidence” but a product of planning “that should have taken place at the right moment, and this is what’s happening.”

Riyadh did not comment on the report on Raisi’s invitation.

Saudi Arabia and Iran announced in March that they had agreed to restore their diplomatic ties. The move was widely welcomed on the regional and international scenes.

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Saudi-Iraqi Cooperation Thwarts Drug Smuggling Operation

The drug shipment was intercepted with the assistance of "important information" provided by Saudi's drug enforcement agency. SPA
The drug shipment was intercepted with the assistance of "important information" provided by Saudi's drug enforcement agency. SPA
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Saudi-Iraqi Cooperation Thwarts Drug Smuggling Operation

The drug shipment was intercepted with the assistance of "important information" provided by Saudi's drug enforcement agency. SPA
The drug shipment was intercepted with the assistance of "important information" provided by Saudi's drug enforcement agency. SPA

Iraq's security forces have seized an estimated 1.1 ton of captagon pills hidden inside a truck that entered Iraq from Syria via Türkiye, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

The drug shipment, the largest ever seized in Iraq, was tracked and intercepted with the assistance of "important information" provided by Saudi's drug enforcement agency, the Interior Ministry spokesperson Brigadier Muqdad Meri said in a televised statement.

Saudi Arabia said it contributed to thwarting an attempt to smuggle seven million amphetamine pills into Iraq, according to a statement by ministry security spokesman Colonel Talal bin Abdul Mohsen bin Shalhoub.
Through proactive security monitoring of criminal networks involved in drug trafficking, the General Directorate of Narcotics Control provided intelligence to its Iraqi counterpart, leading to the interception of the illicit shipment. The drugs were concealed within a consignment of children's toys and ironing boards.
Shalhoub praised the close cooperation between Saudi and Iraqi authorities in combating drug smuggling.

He reiterated the Kingdom’s commitment to tracking and dismantling criminal operations involved in narcotics production and trafficking, in collaboration with counterpart agencies in brotherly and friendly countries.