Iranian pilgrims will for the primary time in eight years start common journey to Saudi Arabia from Dec. 19, Iranian media reported on Wednesday within the newest signal of thawing relations between the 2 oil-producing rivals within the Gulf.

Flights will take off from 10 airports round Iran carrying Iranians travelling on the year-round Umrah pilgrimage to the Islamic holy metropolis of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the semi-official Fars information company stated.

The primary dispatch of Iranian Umrah pilgrims will happen from Dec. 19, Fars added.

China mediated an settlement in March underneath which Iran and Saudi Arabia resumed full diplomatic relations that have been lower in 2016 over Riyadh’s execution of a Shi’ite Muslim cleric and the next storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Since 2016, Iranian pilgrims have solely been in a position to full the haj pilgrimage, a spiritual responsibility deemed obligatory for Muslims who goal to hold it out as soon as of their lifetime and which is topic to strict annual quotas and timings.

Iranians at the moment are in a position to full the Umrah as nicely, generally known as the “lesser pilgrimage” that may be taken at any time of the 12 months and which isn’t typically deemed obligatory in Islam.

Negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia additionally goal to re-establish non-religious tourism between the 2 international locations, with flights linking their capitals.

Fars stated as much as 70,000 Iranian pilgrims have been anticipated to journey to Saudi Arabia by the tip of February 2024.

This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content. Solely the headline has been modified.