BAGHDAD (TIP): Saudi Arabia has reopened its embassy in Baghdad, with its ambassador submitting his credentials at the foreign ministry, after a closure that lasted 25 years.

The kingdom had closed the embassy in 1990, after Saddam Hussein ordered an invasion of Saudi ally Kuwait.

Iraqi foreign minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Thursday accepted the credentials of ambassador Thamir al-Sabhan. Both diplomats underlined the necessity for their countries to boost bilateral relations in all fields. Iraq has been balancing delicately amid the latest regional turmoil between Saudi and its regional rival Iran in the wake of the kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shia cleric.

(AP)