Saudi Airline Resumes First Hajj Flights with Iran After Nearly a Decade

By staff, Agencies

A Saudi airline has resumed flights for Iranian Hajj pilgrims for the first time since 2015.

"Flynas resumed Iranian pilgrims flights from Imam Khomeini [International Airport] in Tehran on Saturday," a Saudi civil aviation authority official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official added that flights would also depart from the northeastern city of Mashhad, allowing more than 35,000 Iranian pilgrims to travel to Saudi Arabia with the airline. The flights are exclusively for the Hajj pilgrimage, which begins in June.

Previously, Iranians were only permitted to travel to Saudi Arabia on Iranian-chartered flights during the Hajj season.

The resumption of flights is another sign of warming ties between the two countries, whose relations broke down dramatically a decade ago.

Tehran and Riyadh cut diplomatic ties in 2016 after the kingdom executed Ayatollah Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric and government critic.

Protesters torched the Saudi embassy in Tehran in response, and relations remained frosty for years after.

However, in 2023, the two countries normalized relations at a summit hosted by China and have been building closer ties ever since.