Iranian state media report that Iran has suspended flights to Saudi Arabia for the year-round Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca over the alleged sexual abuse of two Iranian teenage boys during a security search by Saudi officers at Jeddah’s international airport in March.
"Until these guilty people are put on trial and punished, the Umrah will be stopped and Iranian flights will be suspended," the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Iranian Culture Minister Ali Jannati as saying.
He said the alleged perpetrators had been arrested by the Saudi authorities, who have promised to punish them.
On April 11, hundreds of Iranians held unauthorized protests outside the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.
The alleged abuse came amid tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia over the situation in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition carrying out air strikes against Shi’ite rebels allegedly backed by Iran.
