Manama: A Kuwaiti daily has stood by a report it published on Wednesday which said that Iran was interested in opening a secret dialogue with Saudi Arabia over regional tensions.
Speaking to an unnamed Arab diplomatic source the report said that Mohammad Irani, director-general for the Middle East and North Africa at the Iranian foreign ministry, was dispatched to Tunisia earlier this week as a personal emissary of Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif to request his Tunisian counterpart Khemaies Jhinaoui to “intervene in the crisis between Tehran and Riyadh and discuss with the Saudis the possibility of behind-the-scenes talks between the two countries to resolve differences”.
The daily said that Iranian diplomatic circles are embarrassed and confused about the source of the leak.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi denied the report but Al Jarida, on Thursday, published more details from its source to support their initial story.
The source said that Jhinaoui had received the Iranian ambassador to Tunisia on November 16 who explored the possibility with the Tunisian official.
Jhinaoui later held a meeting with the Saudi ambassador to Tunisia and conveyed the Iranian proposal to him.
The source said that Iran’s intention was to influence the outcome of an Arab League meeting held in Cairo on Sunday which issued harsh condemnations of Iran and Hezbollah’s regional adventurism.
Tunisian media had reported the Jhinaoui received both the Saudi and Iranian ambassadors separately and then later in the day, the envoy of the Iranian foreign minister.
“The Tunisian foreign ministry said in a statement that the Iranian letter was about relations between the two countries and the developments in the Gulf region,” Al Jarida reported.
The Kuwaiti daily also published a picture taken from Tunisian media of Jhinaoui receiving the letter from Iranian official.
The next day, Jhinaoui told the Human Rights, Freedoms and Foreign Relations Committee at the Tunisian parliament that the Iranian ambassador “recently visited him and requested Tunisia’s advice and assistance to calm the situation in the Arab region and the Gulf”, Al Jarida reported.
