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Flights resume in between Iran's Mashhad and Saudi's Dammam as tensions ease

Iran Air on Tuesday resumed flights in between Mashhad in the northeast of the nation and Dammam in Saudi Arabia after a 9 year hiatus, the Iranian Trainee News Agency (ISNA) reported, in a sign of enhancing relations in between the Middle Eastern competitors.

The resumption breaks the ice for Saudi Arabia's Shi'ite minority to go to the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, Iran's second most populous city.

A deputy from Iran's embassy, the representative of Iran Air and representatives from Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Air travel invited getting here travelers in Dammam and stressed the need to help with the motion of people between the two countries, ISNA said.

The round flight, which is meant to occur two times a week, comes after the first group of Iranian pilgrims flew to Capital in Saudi Arabia in April to do umrah, or small pilgrimage, likewise after a 9 year hiatus.

In March 2023, Riyadh and Tehran accepted re-establish relations after Chinese intermediation, following years of hostility that threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in 2016 after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was stormed throughout a disagreement over Riyadh's. execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric.

Dammam is the capital of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, a. region with a substantial Shi'ite minority.

(source: Reuters)