Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saoud

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said today, Saturday, that his country's talks with Iran will continue, and an additional round of negotiations is expected soon.

Bin Farhan added, in an interview for the French channel France 24, that the previous four rounds of talks were exploratory rather than substantive, but said both sides were committed to pursuing them.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud expressed strong reservations regarding Iran's nuclear negotiations, which are set to resume in a few weeks.

Last October, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan revealed in a press conference that his country had held the fourth round of direct negotiations with Iran on September 21.

On October 31, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh announced that Iran and Saudi Arabia had reached preliminary agreements, explaining that "we made preliminary agreements during the talks and are waiting for them to be final. We did, but there is still time before we can reopen embassies in the two countries; we can say that we can start preparing for this stage soon."

Khatibzadeh confirmed, in a statement to the Iranian Mehr Agency, that Iran has conducted four rounds of dialogue with Saudi Arabia in Baghdad, "but communication is still continuous between us and the Saudi government."