Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed his kingdom's readiness to hold formal political talks with Iran, Tasnim reports.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein contacted his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian after a recent summit held in Jeddah by Arab leaders and the US President in mid-July.

Pointing to the good and promising results of five rounds of Iraq-hosted talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Kanaani said a senior Iraqi diplomat told his Iranian counterpart that bin Salman had announced on the sidelines of the Jeddah summit that Riyadh was ready for official political negotiations with Iran in Iraq.

Several rounds of talks between representatives of Iran and Saudi Arabia have already taken place in Baghdad.

Diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh soured following the January 2016 execution in Saudi Arabia of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy. Subsequently, Riyadh severed relations with Tehran in connection with the attack by angry demonstrators on its embassy in the Iranian capital.