Iranian diplomats arrive in Saudi Arabia for OIC posts after six years

Iranian diplomats have arrived in Saudi Arabia to take up posts at the headquarters of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah.

"Three Iranian diplomats have arrived in Jeddah to start their work at the OIC," Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a televised news conference on Monday.

Khatibzadeh said Iran had submitted its "expectations" to Saudi Arabia during the previous talks in Iraq.

"We hope to reach a result in the future talks ... which requires Saudi officials to pay attention to their remarks and actions," Khatibzadeh said.

"Iran has always expressed its readiness to open its embassy in Saudi Arabia."

The two countries have held several rounds of Iraq-mediated talks in recent months in an effort to normalise their relations and resolve their differences.

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Tehran-Riyadh talks

Regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties in January 2016 following an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran after Shia cleric Nimr al Nimr was executed by Saudi authorities.

They launched direct talks last year at a time when global powers are trying to salvage a 2015 nuclear pact with Tehran, and as UN-led efforts to end a war in Yemen stall.

In a further sign of a thaw in ruptured ties, Iran said in December that its regional Sunni rival Saudi Arabia had agreed to grant visas to three Iranian diplomats to be based in the kingdom.

Tehran and Riyadh held four rounds of talks in Iraq, with Baghdad hoping its mediation will stop the neighbours seeking to settle scores on its territory. 

Saudi Arabia has described the talks as cordial but exploratory, while Tehran says they had gone a "good distance".

READ MORE: Riyadh, Tehran 'preparing to reopen embassies'