DUBAI
\nIran said it was lifting visa requirements for 33 countries, including Gulf states like Saudi Arabia with which Tehran had frosty relations for years until a recent rapprochement, the Iranian Students News Agency said on Thursday.
\n\u201cThe ministry of tourism believes that an open-door policy will showcase Iran\u2019s determination to engage with different countries of the world,\u201d the semi-official ISNA reported.
\nThe decision will increase to 45 the number of countries or territories whose citizens can visit Iran without needing to obtain a visa, it said.
\nThe move is another step towards thawing relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in particular after years of tension between the two oil-producing Gulf rivals.
\nRiyadh 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUBAI Iran said it was lifting visa requirements for 33 countries, including Gulf states like Saudi Arabia with which Tehran had frosty relations for years until a recent rapprochement, the Iranian Students News Agency said on Thursday. \u201cThe ministry of tourism believes that an open-door policy will showcase Iran\u2019s determination to engage with different countries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-374759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n