Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are locked in proxy conflicts across the Middle East, have held five rounds of talks hosted by Baghdad, which the Foreign Ministry spokesperson described on Wednesday as “promising”.

“The delay in holding the next round of Iran-Saudi talks is due to efforts to take an important step forward in the next Baghdad meeting,” Nasser Kanaani told a weekly news conference.

Riyadh severed ties with Tehran in 2016 after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital following the execution of a Shi’ite cleric in Saudi Arabia.