Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 15 / Trend D. Khatinoglu /
Saudi Arabia believes that it is the Supreme Leader of Iran who heads the country's "power elite", and it wants to discuss bilateral relations not with the Foreign Ministry, but directly with the spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the head of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies Alireza Nourizadeh believes.
According to Iranian-born Nourizadeh, the Iranian Intelligence and National Security Minister Heydar Moslehi's visit to Saudi Arabia aimed to this end.
According to Saudi media reports, Moslehi last week paid a visit to Saudi Arabia. He met with the heir to the Saudi king and with the head of the country's intelligence agency.
According to the Iranian Constitution, the appointment and retirement of ministers is the responsibility of the president. But some ministers, including Ministers of Intelligence and Defense, are appointed after consultation with the spiritual leader. Moslehi is known as being close to Ayatollah Khamenei.
It was the second time after the Iranian Islamic revolution in 1979 that the Iranian Intelligence Minister visited Saudi Arabia. Previously Ali Younesi, who was the Intelligence minister under President Mohammad Khatami, paid a visit to Riyadh.
According to Nourizadeh, after so many years Saudi Arabia has concluded that if discussions with Iran would take place, they should be held only with Ayatollah Khamenei.
"Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi wanted to visit Saudi Arabia within his trip to the Gulf countries, but this country did not permit the visit. In addition, during the conference over the situation in Syria held ten days ago in Jeddah, Saudi Foreign Minister refused to meet officially with Salehi," Alireza Nourizadeh told Trend by telephone from London.
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are frozen. There are tensions between the two countries over ongoing processes in the region, especially in issues related to Syria and Bahrain. Also recently Iran has been accused of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington.
Moslehi's visit to Saudi Arabia was unsuccessful, and it will not be so easy to improve the relations between the two countries, said Nourizadeh.
"The accusation of Iran for attempted murder of Saudi Ambassador to Washington seriously angered this country. Saudi Arabia also believes that Iran is responsible for this attempt. For this reason, in my opinion, it will not be so easy to improve the relations between the two countries", said Nourizadeh.
In October, the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed what it said was an Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, a charge Iran has denied.