Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir

Iranian Haj, Umrah pilgrims are welcome to visit holy sites

Saudi Arabia took strong action against Iran on Monday by ending air traffic and trade links with the interventionist Gulf neighbor and demanding that Tehran “act like a normal country” before it would restore severed diplomatic relations.

Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Reuters in an interview that Tehran was responsible for rising tensions after the Kingdom executed Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr on Saturday for terror acts.

Insisting Riyadh would react to “Iranian aggression,” Al-Jubeir accused Tehran of dispatching fighters to Arab countries and plotting attacks inside the Kingdom and its Gulf neighbors.

“There is no escalation on the part of Saudi Arabia. Our moves are all reactive. It is the Iranians who went into Lebanon. It is the Iranians who sent their Qods Force and their Revolutionary Guards into Syria,” he said.

Iranian pilgrims would still be welcome to visit Makkah and Madinah either for Haj or at other times of year for the Umrah pilgrimage, he said.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) on Monday halted all flights to and from Iran, the authority said on its official Twitter account.

“Based on the Kingdom’s announcement of the severing of diplomatic relations with Iran, GACA is halting all flights from and to Iran,” the authority tweeted.

Al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had been right to execute Al-Nimr, whom he accused of “agitating, organizing cells, providing them with weapons and money”.

After listing the crimes of 43 Al-Qaeda members also put to death on Saturday alongside four Shiites, Al-Jubeir said of the executions: “We should be applauded for this, not criticized.”

Meanwhile, the Saudi clubs participating in the Asian Champions League intend to demand to transfer their matches against the Iranian clubs to a neutral ground, Al-Arabiya reported.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration believes “diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences.”

“We will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions,” Kirby said.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to “defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats,” according to a statement.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Al-Jubeir in a phone call that the development was deeply worrying. Ban also spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and urged both ministers to “avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation.”

Oil prices, meanwhile, rose on Monday after the breakdown in Riyadh-Tehran diplomatic ties that some analysts speculated could result in supply restrictions, which offset the potential hit from evidence of weakness in Asia’s largest economies.

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