Saudis said to issue visas to Iran Interests Section

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency is reporting that Saudi Arabia has agreed to issue visas to the head of Iran’s Saudi Arabian Interests Section and its staff.

Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran in January 2016 after Iranian protesters attacked its embassy and consulate in Tehran over the execution of top Saudi opposition cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr

Today’s report quotes an unnamed source as saying that Saudi Arabia agreed to issue the visas.

Saudi state media did not immediately acknowledge the report.

Tensions have spiked between the mostly Sunni kingdom and the Shiite power Iran after Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels, known as Houthis, fired a missile that was intercepted outside Riyadh.

Iran has welcomed Arab countries’ offers for mediation between Tehran and Riyadh.

— AP