Summary
Iran's deputy foreign minister will visit Saudi Arabia Tuesday for the first bilateral talks between the Middle East's most intractable rivals since Iran's political landscape shifted in 2013, media in both countries reported.
Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are enmeshed in a struggle for influence across the Middle East and they support opposing sides in wars and political disputes in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and Yemen.
The deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, left Tehran Monday, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.
In another bout of diplomacy Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met senior Iraqi Shiite preachers who played a key role in the country's political crisis by urging Maliki to step down.
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