German foreign minister to visit Tehran and Riyadh over tension

Germany’s Foreign Ministry has made the required coordination with Iranian officials for the upcoming visit of Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Tehran on February 2, 2016, According to IRNA of Iran.

After consulting with Iranian authorities, the German top diplomat will depart for Riyadh to attend Janadriyah cultural festival and confer with Saudi officials on Tehran-Riyadh relations.

In the current month, Steinmeier has held several telephone conversations with his Iranian and Saudi counterparts and urged them to put aside their differences and prevent the escalation of tension in their relations which could undermine all the efforts of the past weeks on reconciliation in Syria.

At the moment, the biggest concern of German government appears to be bringing the Syria peace talks to a positive conclusion in order to prevent a new wave of Syrian refugees from entering the country.

A diplomatic row erupted on Jan. 3 after Saudi Arabia broke off ties with Iran over attack on its embassy in Tehran following the execution of a prominent cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by the Saudi.

So far a number of countries have expressed their readiness to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resolve the current tension between the two regional countries.