JEDDAH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met on Sunday with Iraq’s influential Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr, who is on a rare visit to the Kingdom.
Crown Prince Mohammed received Al-Sadr at his office in Jeddah and the two "reviewed Saudi-Iraqi relations and a number of issues of mutual interest," said the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Al-Sadr was met at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah by Thamer Al-Sabhan, the kingdom’s former ambassador to Iraq and its first to be assigned to Baghdad after a 25-year break.
Al-Sabhan was renamed minister of state for the Gulf region after tensions with the Iraqi government. He’d claimed that Iranian-backed militias were plotting to assassinate him.
A statement released Sunday by Al-Sadr’s office said he had been invited to the Kingdom.
Al-Sadr is among those who have called for the disbandment of militias organized in Iraq to help the government fight Daesh extremists.
Ƶ and its allies have expressed concern about the influence of Iran over Shiite militias, warning that they could be used against Sunnis in Iraq.
— With a report by AP
