Iran's interior ministry said Saturday it was willing to sign a security cooperation pact with Saudi Arabia, in response to an overture from that country, Iranian television reported.
The vice-minister of the interior for politics, Mohammed Javad Haghshenass, said Iran was "willing to conclude an accord on security arrangements with Saudi Arabia."
The declaration was in response to a call on Wednesday by Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz for Tehran to agree to a security deal.
"We are filled with the hope of establishing security cooperation between the Saudi kingdom and Iran," Prince Nayef said after a meeting of the six Gulf Arab monarchies.
Ties between the two major Gulf powers have warmed considerably since the May 1997 election of President Mohammed Khatami, after a long period of hostility following the 1979 Islamic revolution.
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia officially invited Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to visit the kingdom and make a pilgrimage to holy Islamic sites.
Khamenei has yet to respond to the invitation, the first of its kind since the revolution – TEHRAN (AFP)
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