Iran Suspends Saudi Pilgrimage Flights Over Sexual Assault Allegations

Iran's Culture Minister Ali Jannati said on Monday, that the country has suspended flights to Saudi Arabia for the year-round Umrah Islamic pilgrimage over allegations that Saudi security officers sexually assaulted two Iranian boys. The teenage boys alleged last week that the officers abused them while conducting a security search at Jeddah airport. the Iranian Students News Agency cited Jannati as saying, "Until these guilty people are put on trial and punished, the Umrah will be stopped and Iranian flights will be suspended." The boys were returning to Tehran from the Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of the year other than during the Hajj.