Iranian President Hassan Rouhani plans to set off for a day-long visit to Oman and Kuwait, two Arab littoral states of the Persian Gulf, to discuss ways to improve mutual relations and the latest regional developments.
Heading a high-ranking delegation, Rouhani will leave Tehran for Muscat on Wednesday on the first leg of his tour at the invitation of Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, Iranian president’s deputy chief of staff for communications and information, Parviz Esmaeili, said on Monday.
He added that the Iranian president will meet Sultan Qaboos behind closed doors while senior delegations of the two countries will also hold talks.
He noted that President Rouhani would depart for Kuwait City later on Wednesday at the invitation of Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah.
Esmaeili said the Iranian chief executive plans to hold talks with Kuwait’s emir, Prime Minister Jaber al-Mubarak al-Hamad al-Sabah and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Hamad al-Sabah.
He added that the Iranian and Kuwaiti delegations are also scheduled to hold discussions.
The Iranian president would wrap up his two-nation tour and return to the country Wednesday evening, the official said.
Rouhani’s visit to Kuwait would come after the country’s foreign minister paid a visit to Tehran late in January and delivered a message from his country’s emir to the Iranian president.
The Kuwaiti diplomat’s one-day visit to Iran was the first by a senior official of a Persian Gulf Arab state to the Islamic Republic after relations between Tehran and some of the Arab countries of the strategic region suffered when Saudi Arabia unilaterally severed its diplomatic ties with Iran.