Iran welcomed on Monday the idea of talks with its regional rival Saudi Arabia, amid reports that the two Gulf powers were directly talking about bilateral relations and hopes that the talks about the Iranian nuclear deal have made progress. Iran “has always welcomed dialog with the Saudi kingdom and sees it as beneficial to the people of both countries and regional peace and stability,” Bloomberg quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying at a news conference on Monday. Over the weekend, the Financial Times reported , citing three officials, that Saudi Arabia and Iran held direct talks in Iraq this month. The talks reportedly involved the proxy war in Yemen and the recent increase of attacks from the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen on oil facilities and oil infrastructure targets in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led Arab coalition has been fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen since […]