Iraq, Saudi reopen Arar border crossing after 30 years: Official

Baghdad: Iraq and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday reopened the Arar desert crossing, Baghdad's border commission said, in a long-awaited sign of closer trade ties after a 30-year closure.

Top officials including Iraq's interior minister and the head of its border commission travelled from Baghdad to formally open Arar, where a line of cargo trucks had been waiting since the morning.

Arar will be open to both goods and people for the first time since Riyadh cut diplomatic relations with Baghdad in 1990 following Iraqi ex-dictator Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.