Saudi airline resumes first hajj flights with Iran since 2015

________________

A Saudi airline has resumed flights for Iranian hajj pilgrims to the kingdom for the first time in a decade, the latest sign of the warming ties between the countries.

"Flynas resumed Iranian pilgrims flights from Imam Khomeini (airport) in Tehran on Saturday," a Saudi civil aviation authority official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official said flights would also be added from Mashhad in Iran, allowing more than 35,000 pilgrims to travel to Saudi Arabia on the airline.

The official stressed that the flights were not commercial and were only for the hajj pilgrimage.

The hajj is due to begin during the first week of June, and pilgrims from across the globe have already begun pouring into Saudi Arabia.

Shiite-dominated Iran and Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia resumed relations in March 2023 under a surprise China-brokered deal after a seven-year rupture.

Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran and consulate in the northwestern city of Mashhad were attacked during protests after Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

No Iranian pilgrims were allowed into Saudi Arabia in 2016, the year that ties were ruptured, as the two sides were unable to organise a protocol for them to attend.

Iranians were later allowed to join the pilgrimage but were only allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia on Iranian chartered flights during the hajj season.

But since the March 2023 Iranian-Saudi rapprochement, the regional powers have intensified their contacts.