Saudi Arabia approves Rafsanjani's visit to Shiite districts

Iranian diplomats in Riyadh said the Saudi government has permitted former Iranian President Hashami Rafsanjani to visit the Eastern areas of Saudi Arabia.

Rafsanjani will meet with leaders of the Shiite minorities who settled in this oil-rich area, which was until recently a source of troubling opposition to the Kingdom and the cause of tension in Iranian-Saudi relations.

The Saudi government's approval of Rafsanjani's visit to these areas is a landmark in the Saudi-Iranian relations which have entered "a new phase," according to the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

The Iranian diplomats, who declined to be identified, said Rafsanjani's meeting with the leaders of the Shiites, whose numbers are estimated at 2 million will take place in the industrial city of Jabeil and other parts of eastern Saudi Arabia.

The diplomats did not set a time for the meeting but said that due to sensitive nature of such a meeting, it was not declared officially nor listed on the agenda of Rafsanjani's visit, which began Saturday.