Rafsanjani to visit Saudi Arabia

Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will visit Saudi Arabia later this year in further sign of closer ties between the region's two heavyweights.

An Iranian embassy official in Riyadh, confirmed Rafsanjani, who steps down as president next month after serving the two four terms permitted under the constitution, was scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia later this year. "The visit will happen but the date is not clear now," the embassy official said.

Saudi-owned Ashraq Al Awsat newspaper reported Rafsanjani's visit would take place in November.

Iran has had tense relations with the Saudi Arabia since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, and diplomatic relations were severed in 1987 after protests during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

Saudi Arabia remains the main ally of the United States in the oil-rich Gulf, while Washington has sought to isolate the Iran, charging it with sponsoring international terrorism.