MOSCOW, January 30 (Sputnik) — Iran seeks to improve relations with Saudi Arabia, the head of Iran's parliamentary committee on foreign policy announced on Friday during a visit to Lebanon, AFP reported.
"The more fraternal relations among countries in the region are reinforced the more stability takes root," Alaeddin Boroujerdi told reporters, according to Lebanese newspaper the Daily Star.
Boroujerdi stressed that Iran seeks brotherly relations with all countries in the region, but Saudi Arabia especially, according to the news website Middle East Eye.
Boroujerdi was on a visit to Lebanon to attend a ceremony in honor of Hezbollah fighters killed by an Israeli strike on January 18 in Syria's Golan Heights, according to the Daily Star.
18 January 2015, 15:33 GMT
Shiite Iran and the Sunni Saudi Arabia are estranged politically as a result of their sectarian differences. Iran is an ally of the Alawite Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. Tehran also supports the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Saudis, on their part, officially support the Sunni cause in the neighboring countries, while there have also been allegations of the non-official Saudi funding of such Sunni groups as al-Qaeda and Islamic State, both the archenemies of the Shiites.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi
