Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir has announced that with immediate effect, all flights between the Kingdom and Iran have been terminated. The announcement comes hours after Riyadh severed all diplomatic ties with Tehran in the wake of the invasion of Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashad this past weekend.
Angry mobs surrounded the missions late on Saturday night after Saudi Arabia executed forty-seven prisoners, including Shia cleric Al-Nimr, for their alleged involvement in terrorist activities.
Iran has accused Saudi Arabia of using the incidents as a pretext to break-off relations. Since then, Bahrain and Sudan have severed ties with the Iranians while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has downgraded its relations.
Despite the stand-off between the two regional powers, Al-Jubeir has said Iranian pilgrims were still welcome to visit the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and Medina.
According to the ch-aviation schedules module, the only scheduled services between Saudi-Arabia and Iran are a four times weekly A320-200 service linking Dammam and Mashad operated by Saudia (SV, Jeddah International).
