The governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia confirmed on Thursday that their respective foreign ministers held a phone conversation the night before, the first known direct contact between the two countries since Iran began a sustained bombing campaign against Saudi Arabia and its allies in March.
Iran has engaged in a sustained missile and drone bombing campaign against its Gulf neighbors since February 28, when President Donald Trump announced a military operation to eliminate Iran’s ability to threaten its neighbors. That initiative, Operation Epic Fury, resulted in the deaths of dozens of senior Iranian officials, including dictator Ali Khamenei, and the elimination of much of Iran’s military arsenal.
That conflict appeared to end on Tuesday night, when President Trump, and the government of Pakistan, announced that the two sides had agreed to a two-week ceasefire intended to hash out the details of a sustained peace. Trump emphasized that the peace deal would be contingent upon Iran stopping its activities to block regular commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz — a move that significantly harms Saudi Arabia’s oil industry — while Pakistan and Iran insisted that the ceasefire must including Israel’s bombing of Lebanon, which both Washington and Jerusalem denied was related to the original deal.
As recently as this Wednesday, however — hours before the foreign ministers of the two countries spoke — Saudi authorities announced that they had intercepted another barrage of Iranian missiles threatening civilian industrial sites.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday that its foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, held a conversation with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi. The ministry offered no details on the nature of the conversation.
“During the call, they reviewed the latest developments and discussed ways to reduce tensions to restore security and stability in the region,” the ministry shared.
The Iranian Tasnim News Agency reported that the Iranian government had similarly confirmed the phone call and added the detail that Araghchi used the opportunity to complain about American “aggression.” It did not share if the Saudi foreign minister similarly objected to Iran’s regular bombing of the country which had played no part in the American and Israeli military actions.
“Explaining the latest developments in the region after the announcement of the ceasefire, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of our country [Araghchi], while emphasizing Iran’s responsible approach, stated,” according to Tasnim, “Unfortunately, the American side twice committed military aggression against Iran in the middle of the nuclear negotiations process, and this time diplomacy and negotiations have not developed as they act against their obligations.”
The Emirati newspaper The National confirmed that the phone call is the first known contact between Iran and Saudi Arabia since the war. The two countries have struggled with acrimonious relations for years, only temporarily warming during the term of former President Joe Biden who vowed to turn the Saudi government into a global “pariah.” In 2023, following a hard pivot in Saudi foreign policy towards China, the Saudi government signed a diplomatic agreement with Iran in Beijing to normalize relations.
That agreement appeared to disintegrate almost immediately after the launch of Operation Epic Fury. In response to the initial American action, Iranian forces began missile and drone assaults against at least a dozen countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey, Cyprus, Jordan, and Azerbaijan. Iranian officials claimed they were only targeting American assets in the region, but the countries attacked rejected this explanation, noting that many of the Iranian missiles and drones they had intercepted appeared to be targeting oil and natural gas facilities unrelated to the United States.
The Saudi government organized a meeting of the aggrieved countries in late March to denounce Iranian aggression and form a united stance against Iranian terrorism. At the event, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal offered a scathing condemnation of the Iranian regime, suggesting that friendly relations with Iran may not be possible in any near future.
“What little trust there was before has completely been shattered,” Prince Faisal said at the time. “So when this war eventually ends, in order for there to be any rebuilding of trust, it will take a long time.”
“If Iran doesn’t stop… immediately, I think there will be almost nothing that can re-establish that trust,” he added.
The Saudis documented airstrikes against them from Iran as recently as Wednesday, though by Thursday the number of reports of Iranian missiles and drones flying towards Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait diminished significantly. The Saudi Foreign Minister repeated on Wednesday its hope that the ceasefire announced on Tuesday would succeed but added that, in addition to an end to the attacks, it expects the Iranian government to stop threatening commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
“The Kingdom emphasized the importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open to navigation in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” a statement from Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday read.
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