CAIRO, April 6 (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met in China for the first formal meeting of their most senior diplomats in more than seven years, Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya television said.

In brief footage broadcast on Twitter in the early hours of Thursday, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, greet each other before sitting down side by side.

After years of hostility that fuelled conflicts across the Middle East, Tehran and Riyadh agreed to end their diplomatic rift and re-open embassies in a major deal facilitated by China last month.