WEB DESK
The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing today in the first formal meeting of the two countries’ top diplomats in seven years. After years of hostility that had fuelled conflicts across the Middle East, Tehran and Riyadh agreed to end their diplomatic rift and re-open embassies in a major deal facilitated by China last month. Saudi Arabia’s state-run broadcaster Al Ekhbariya released brief footage of the meeting on Twitter showing Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, shaking hands and smiling in front of a traditional Chinese painting as well as the flags of their respective countries.