Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqji will travel tomorrow, Saturday, to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, before the tour of US President Donald Trump, scheduled for next week in the region, according to what the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.
A statement published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Araqji will first go to Riyadh to “meet senior Saudi officials and hold talks with them” and then to Doha “to participate in the Arab -Iranian dialogue conference.”
Trump is scheduled to take a tour that includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE between May 13 and 16.
A fourth round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States is likely to be held at the beginning of next week in the Omani capital, in light of a dispute over the United States’ naming for the Gulf.
Iran and the United States – who have seized diplomatic ties since 1980 – began indirect talks on April 12 on the Iranian nuclear program, mediated by the Sultanate of Oman.
It was scheduled to hold a fourth round of the talks last Saturday, but it was postponed for “logistical reasons,” according to Muscat.
Muscat hosted the first rounds of Tehran and Washington conversations, as it was welcomed by an Arab, while the White House described it as “very positive and constructive.”
The second round of indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran ended in the Italian capital, Rome, on Iran’s nuclear program, and then the third round was also held in the Sultanate of Oman.
Disagreement over naming
This comes in light of the announcement of US President Donald Trump the day before yesterday that he would “make a decision” regarding the official designation that the United States will adopt for the Gulf after media reports stated that he intends to launch the name “Arab Gulf” or “The Gulf of the Arabs” on the water surface that Iran insists on calling the “Persian Gulf”.
Tehran was quick to warn Trump against changing the name of the water surface located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.
“Any political motivation attempt to change the historical name of the Persian Gulf indicates a hostile intention against Iran and its people,” Araqji said in a post on the X platform.
It is also reported that Trump will also visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE next week.