Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said Saturday the kingdom was looking to schedule a fifth round of direct talks with Iran despite a "lack of substantive progress" in previous rounds.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, also voiced hope there was a serious desire by Iran to find a "new modus operandi" in the region.

The two countries held talks in April last year with Iraqi mediation. Tehran said the talks were productive, while Riyadh said no serious progress took place.

Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi who took office last August announced that his government’s priority was to improve relations with regional countries, but no visible change has taken place in Tehran’s regional policies, including support for Houthis in Yemen or militant militias in Iraq and elsewhere.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran are locked in several proxy conflicts around the region, including in Yemen.

Houthis have continued missile and drone attacks against civilian targets in Saudi Arabia and in January also launched missile strikes against Riyadh’s ally, the United Arab Enirates.