RIYADH — Iran’s deputy foreign minister said he held “positive and constructive” talks with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister on Tuesday, where Islamist militancy in Iraq was one of the topics discussed.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian was in Jeddah for the first high-level bilateral talks between the two countries since Hassan Rouhani was elected president of Iran a year ago, pledging to thaw Tehran’s frosty relations with its Arab neighbors.

“Both sides emphasized the need to open a new page of political relations between the two countries,” Abdollahian told Reuters after meeting Prince Saud al-Faisal.

The two men discussed issues of regional security such as the rise of the “Islamic State” militant group in Iraq and Israeli attacks on Gaza, Abdollahian said, adding: “The meeting took place in a very positive and constructive atmosphere.”

Official Saudi media did not initially report on Abdollahian’s arrival, a sign of the sensitivity of relations between two of the Middle East’s big powers which are separated by the Gulf and a religious divide, with Sunni Saudi Arabia often at odds with Shi’a Iran.

But state news agency SPA later did report the talks, saying the men “reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries and discussed a number of regional and international issues of common interest.”

Saudi Arabia and Iran back opposing sides in wars and political struggles in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Bahrain and vie for influence across the Middle East.

However, both Tehran and Riyadh were aghast at the rapid advances made by the “Islamic State” in June and July and welcomed the departure of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki this month.