Tehran - (AFP) - The Iranian Foreign Minister announced on Wednesday that he had a "friendly conversation" with his Saudi counterpart on the sidelines of a regional summit held in Jordan, in a move that comes after Tehran hinted at a role for Riyadh in the protests that the Islamic Republic has been witnessing for months.

As of September 16, protests erupted in Iran following the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini, three days after she was arrested by the morality police. Dozens of people, including members of the security forces, died on the sidelines of the protests, which included raising slogans against the authorities.

Iranian officials have accused the "enemies" of the Islamic Republic, led by the United States, of involvement in the protests. They also talked about the role of Saudi Arabia, the regional opponent of the Islamic Republic, especially through Persian-speaking media outside Iran, which Tehran considers "hostile" and accuses it of receiving funding from Riyadh.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian wrote on Twitter, "I attended the Baghdad-2 conference in Jordan to confirm our support for Iraq, and on the sidelines of the meeting I also had the opportunity to have a friendly (talk) event (with) some of my counterparts, including the foreign ministers of Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia." .

He added in his tweet, published in Arabic, "The Saudi minister (Prince Faisal bin Farhan) assured me of his country's readiness to continue dialogue with Iran."

Amir Abdullahian and Bin Farhan each represented his country at the "Baghdad 2" conference, which was hosted by Jordan with the participation of Iraq and neighboring countries, in addition to France.

The two regional rivals began holding a dialogue in Baghdad, starting in April 2021, in an effort to improve the relations severed between them since the beginning of 2016. However, the dialogue entered a state of stagnation in the past months, and the last announced round of it took place in April 2022.

Despite Baghdad's announcement in July of preparations for a public meeting between the Iranian and Iraqi foreign ministers, no date has yet been set for such a meeting, or additional rounds of dialogue have been publicly disclosed.

In November, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani called on Saudi Arabia to change its "unfriendly" behavior towards his country, stressing that Tehran would continue to follow the diplomatic track with Riyadh.

Iranian officials have repeatedly criticized Saudi Arabia since the protests began.

Security (Intelligence) Minister Ismail Khatib said that in the protests, "the hand of the Saudi regime was clearly visible in spending money," in an interview with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's website published on November 9.

Regarding Saudi Arabia, he added, "Our fate and the rest of the countries in the region are interconnected," warning that "any instability in the countries of the region could spread to other countries, and that any destabilization in Iran might spread to the countries of the region."

Likewise, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Major General Hussein Salami, issued a warning in late October to "the House of Saud and the media are under their control," adding, "You are the ones who incite people and sow seeds of discord (...) think about what can happen to you."