DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – Iran said it was lifting visa requirements for 33 countries, including Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, with which Tehran had frosty relations for years until a recent rapprochement, the Iranian Students News Agency said on Thursday.
‘The ministry of tourism believes that an open-door policy will showcase Iran’s determination to engage with different countries of the world,’ the semiofficial ISNA reported.
The decision will increase to 45 the number of countries or territories whose citizens can visit Iran without needing to obtain a visa, it said.
The move is another step toward thawing relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, in particular, after years of tension between the two oil-producing Gulf rivals.
Riyadh and Tehran have aligned themselves with warring parties in Syria, Iraq and Yemen in the past decade. Attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure, which Western officials blame on Iran and its Arab proxy forces, threatened in recent years to send the Middle East into further conflict. Iran denied involvement in those attacks.
Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore full diplomatic relations, severed in 2016, under a Chinese-mediated agreement in March.
Nationals of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are included in the decision to waive visa requirements, in addition to Bahrain, with which Tehran has not yet reestablished full ties.
ISNA gave a full list of the countries, which included Lebanon, Tunisia, India and several Central Asian and African nations. Croatia, a small member of the European Union and NATO, was the only Western-allied European nation on the list.
‘Russians will only profit from this visa exemption if they are visiting the country in groups,’ ISNA said.
Omani nationals had been able to travel to Iran visa-free prior to this announcement.
Iranian pilgrims will for the first time in eight years begin regular travel to Saudi Arabia from December 19, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.
