Iran to cancel visa requirements for visitors from 33 new countries

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 December 14.

"The Ministry of Tourism believes that an open-door policy will showcase Iran's determination to engage with different countries of the world," Reuters reports citing the semi-official ISNA.

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 towards 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 agreed to restore full diplomatic relations, severed in 2016, under a Chinese-mediated agreement in March.