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Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - A file photograph shows Muslim pilgrims circling the Kaaba in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. — Reuters pic
RIYADH, May 19 — 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.
Flynas is a budget airline based in Saudi Arabia, which operates domestic and international routes.
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.
In September 2015, a stampede during the hajj killed up to 2,300 worshippers, among them hundreds of Iranians.
Pilgrims from Iran were later allowed to join the hajj but 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.
The two exchanged ambassadors and visits of foreign ministers before the late Ebrahim Raisi made the first visit by an Iranian president to the kingdom in 20 years for a joint Arab-Islamic summit on the Gaza war in November 2023.
In December, Iran Air resumed operations between Mashhad and Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia.
And last month, Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman travelled in a rare visit by a Saudi royal to Iran where he also met supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The moves come as the United States and Iran have held four rounds of talks aimed at hammering out a new accord on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
US President Donald Trump hinted during his tour of the Gulf that the two sides were “getting close” to a deal, but also warned Tehran to move quickly towards sealing an agreement or “something bad will happen”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Saudi Arabia just days before Trump began his regional tour last week. — AFP
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