Alireza Enayati said relations with Saudi Arabia were “evolving naturally” and that he was in direct contact with Saudi officials.
Published: March 15, 2026
Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia denies that Tehran was responsible for the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and said it would have announced it if it had been behind it.
Alireza Enayati did not identify who led the attack but added that Iran was only attacking US and Israeli military objectives and interests during the ongoing war, Reuters reported on Sunday.
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After the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran in late February, Tehran retaliated against American and Israeli military assets, including in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.
Last week, the Ras Tanura refinery had to suspend operations after drone debris started a small fire. Attempted attacks were also reported at the Shaybah oil field, located in the desert near the UAE border.
So far, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense has not condemned anyone for the attack.
Enayati said he was in direct contact with Saudi officials and described relationships as ‘naturally evolving’ in several areas.
The talks included a public stance by Saudi Arabia that it would not use land, sea or air to target Iran. He did not elaborate.
Iran and Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic ties in 2023 in a deal brokered by China in which the two sides, who had supported rival groups across the region, agreed to a new chapter in their relations.
‘Depending on external forces’
Enayati reiterated to the Gulf countries that the war was “imposed on us and on the region” following the joint US-Israeli offensive.
When asked about attacks on Gulf countries, Prime Minister Enayati said: “We are neighbors, we cannot do without each other, we need to take a serious look.”
“What the region has witnessed over the past 50 years is the result of an exclusive approach and over-reliance on external powers,” he said, calling for deeper ties between the six Gulf Cooperation Council members, along with Iraq and Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also denied that Iran was targeting civilians or residential areas in the Middle East and said Tehran was ready to form a committee with its neighbors to investigate responsibility for such attacks.
So far, the UAE, which normalized diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020, has faced the brunt of Iranian attacks, with US bases and oil refineries being heavily targeted.
All countries targeted have strongly condemned Iran’s missile and drone attacks, but regional sources say frustration with the United States is still growing for dragging them into a war in which they are not a part and for which they are now paying the highest price.
Enayati said a resolution to the conflict would require the United States and Israel to stop their attacks and international security guarantees to prevent future “aggressions” must be provided.
Paul Musgrave, an associate professor at Georgetown University in Qatar, said U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had lost much of its influence in the region and that the U.S. had entered into the wrong conflict at the wrong moment without proper planning.
Meanwhile, Iran’s strategy now appears to be about “not who has the bigger bomb or the bigger munitions, but who has the greater threshold for suffering,” Musgrave told Al Jazeera.
