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World Bulletin 05/11/2014

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Monday said his Saudi counterpart had pledged to reopen his country's diplomatic mission in Baghdad.

Al-Jaafari did not, however, provide a date for the move.

"If there is any frostiness in Saudi-Iranian relations, we don't want to be part of that frostiness," al-Jaafari said in a lecture delivered at Kuwait University devoted to political developments in the region and their social repercussions.

Relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia deteriorated under former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was succeeded in the premiership this summer by Haider al-Abadi.Saudi Arabia had accused al-Maliki of marginalizing Iraq's Sunni population, blaming him for ongoing insecurity in the war-torn country.Saudi Arabia had also repeatedly called for the formation of a consensus government in Iraq.

Baghdad, meanwhile, had accused Riyadh of supporting armed Sunni groups in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia is a leading member of an international coalition against the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), a militant movement – comprised of thousands of foreign fighters – that has recently overrun large territories in both Iraq and Syria.

Al-Jaafari said his country's new administration was determined to build strong ties with Iraq's neighbors.