Iran ready for security talks with Saudi Arabia: Defense min.

TEHRAN, Feb. 14 (MNA) – Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani says that the country is ready to hold security and defense talks with Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf littoral states.

Ashtiani made the remarks in a meeting with the Saudi ambassador to Tehran Abdullah bin Saud al-Anzi on Tuesday.

Considering Iran and Saudi Arabia as two important players in the region, the Iranian official stressed that the two countries can play a vital role in maintaining regional stability and security.

He stressed that the Iranian administration attaches great importance to the development of relations and constructive interaction with the countries of the region.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ashtiani condemned the ongoing Israeli genocidal war against the defenseless Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, adding that the issue of Palestine is the first issue of the Islamic world.

"It is necessary for Muslim countries, especially the important countries of the region, to take a more decisive and coordinated position and act in this regard as a religious and humanitarian duty," he continued.

Emphasizing that the Zionist regime will achieve none of its goals in Gaza, Ashtiani cited that today, the region's conditions are critical and complex, and the intervention and support of the US and the West for Israel can complicate the security conditions of the region and cause a major regional crisis.

The Saudi envoy, for his part, called for developing bilateral cooperation between Tehran and Riyadh in the field of defense and technology.