Remarkable progress has been made in talks aimed at mending relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

According to Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi who says the talks have entered advance stages. Baghdad has been playing mediatory role.

Last month Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud revealed that some but not enough progress had been made. He indicated that a new era of cooperation would deliver benefits for all. The utterances came as Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that a fifth round of talks had been positive.

For six years Saudi Arabian and Iranian ties have been at an all-time low after Riyadh severed relations due to protests over the execution of a prominent Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr. Demonstrators had stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran. The two neighbors are also deeply divided over a number of regional issues including the Saudi aggression on Yemen.