Iran's Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani met with Saudi Arabia's top diplomat Faisal bin Farhan to discuss bilateral, regional, and international issues. This meeting took place on the sidelines of the BRICS foreign ministerial gathering in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on Tuesday.

In March 2023, Iran and Saudi Arabia, facilitated by a Chinese-brokered agreement, decided to restore diplomatic relations that had been severed since 2016. Following this agreement, Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh in June, along with its consulate in Jeddah and its representative office with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Similarly, Saudi Arabia resumed operations of its embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad.

Bagheri Kani arrived in Russia on Monday to participate in the BRICS 2024 meeting as an official member. Saudi Arabia is among the countries invited to join BRICS as an official member. The BRICS group, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, represents 42 percent of the global population and about 27 percent of the world's land area and economy. Iran became a full member of BRICS in January 2024.

During his visit, Bagheri Kani has engaged in discussions with the foreign ministers of China, Belarus, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and a special presidential envoy from Russia. Additionally, he met with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to explore the potential of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the BRICS group in countering unilateralism and illegal actions by the United States.