Saudi To Sign Security Accord With Iran This Month
RIYADH, Feb 1 (News Agencies) - Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said Thursday that a security cooperation accord between the kingdom and Iran will be signed in the latter half of February.
Prince Nayef told newspapers he was "waiting for his brothers in Iran to fix an exact date" for his visit to Tehran during which he will sign the accord with his Iranian counterpart Abdolvahed Mussavi-Lari.
The Saudi cabinet on Monday approved the text of a security cooperation accord which Prince Nayef said focuses on the fight against crime, terrorism and money laundering, and surveillance of borders and territorial waters.
The prince has insisted that the accord is a purely security agreement and "has no military dimension concerning security in the Gulf."
Relations between the two nations have greatly improved since the 1997 election of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who paid a landmark visit to the kingdom in May 1999.
