Iran FM: We Are Working with Saudi Arabia on Stability of Region

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
TT

Iran FM: We Are Working with Saudi Arabia on Stability of Region

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian revealed on Sunday that he will hold a meeting “in the near future” with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah.

The Iranian government has proposed to Saudi Arabia three locations for the meeting, he revealed, citing the latest messages with Riyadh since the countries agreed to re-establish ties.

Amirabdollahian told a news conference in Tehran his country had agreed to such a meeting, although he did not list the three locations or say when such a meeting might take place.

Moreover, he added that ties with Riyadh had returned to normal after five rounds of talks in Baghdad.

On the Yemen crisis, the FM said the issue “is an internal Yemeni affair. We are working with Saudi Arabia on ensuring the stability of the region.”

“We will not accept any threat against us from neighboring countries,” he went on to say.

Amirabdollahian revealed that he will visit Moscow next week to discuss regional and international affairs.

He said Tehran had requested concrete evidence from Ukraine that proves that Iranian drones have been used in the war with Russia.

On relations between Iran and Egypt, he said: “We welcome the development of ties with Egypt as it plays an important role in the Arab world.



Zelenskiy Says North Korea Could Send More Troops, Military Equipment to Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Zelenskiy Says North Korea Could Send More Troops, Military Equipment to Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed and wounded in Russia's Kursk region and warned that Pyongyang could send more personnel and equipment for Moscow's army.

"There are risks of North Korea sending additional troops and military equipment to the Russian army," Zelenskiy said on X after receiving a report from his top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi.

"We will have tangible responses to this," he added.

The estimate of North Korean losses is higher than that provided by Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), which said on Monday at least 1,100 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded.

The assessment was in line with a briefing last week by South Korea's spy agency, which reported some 100 deaths with another 1,000 wounded in the region.

Zelenskiy said he cited preliminary data. Reuters could not independently verify reports on combat losses.

Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Koreans on its side. Pyongyang initially dismissed reports about the troop deployment as "fake news", but a North Korean official has said any such deployment would be lawful.

According to Ukrainian and allied assessments, North Korea has sent around 12,000 troops to Russia.

Some of them have been deployed for combat in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukraine still holds a chunk of land after a major cross-border incursion in August.

JCS added that it has detected signs of Pyongyang planning to produce suicide drones to be shipped to Russia, in addition to the already supplied 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers.

Kyiv continues to press allies for a tougher response as it says Moscow's and Pyongyang's transfer of warfare experience and military technologies constitute a global threat.

"For the world, the cost of restoring stability is always much higher than the cost of effectively pressuring those who destabilize the situation and destroy lives," Zelenskiy said.