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Saudi consulate in Iran’s Mashhad officially resumes work

The consulate will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. local time from Saturday to Wednesday

MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. Saudi Arabia’s consulate in the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran has officially resumed its work, the IRNA news agency reported on Sunday, citing an Iranian foreign ministry official.

"The Saudi consulate in Mashhad has officially resumed its operation. It will be housed in one of the hotels," the official said. "The consulate has notified the foreign ministry that it has been operating since August 12."

The consulate will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. local time from Saturday to Wednesday.

IRNA said on August 9, citing an Iranian foreign ministry source that Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran had resumed its work from August 6. Two months prior, on June 6, Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh after seven years of the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Relations between Riyadh and Tehran became strained in March 2015 after a Saudi-led coalition launched a military operation in Yemen against the Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement. Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran in January 2016 after its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in Mashhad were attacked by crowds protesting against the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric, in Riyadh. On March 10, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to normalize bilateral relations and open embassies within two months.

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