6 Iranian citizens executed in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has executed six Iranians for drug trafficking. The Saudi ambassador to Tehran was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry after the executions were carried out without notifying the Iranian embassy.

Saudi Arabia has reportedly executed six Iranian citizens for drug trafficking. The Saudi Interior Ministry said earlier that six Iranian citizens had been arrested and sentenced to death for smuggling marijuana into the country. It did not say when the executions took place.

Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Tehran, Abdullah bin Saud Al-Anzi, to express "strong objection" to the executions. Karimi Shasati, director general of the Consular Affairs Department of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said in a meeting with the Saudi ambassador that "the individuals in question were sentenced to death by the Saudi Arabian justice system several years ago on charges of drug trafficking, and during this period the Iranian Foreign Ministry consistently tried to provide them with consular services and mitigate their sentences. "However, carrying out the death penalty without prior notification to the embassy is unacceptable and violates the rules of international law, including the requirements of the Convention on Consular Relations."

During the meeting, Saudi Ambassador Al-Anzi was presented with "Iran's note of protest" and Saudi Arabia was asked to make the necessary statement on the subject.

On January 2, 2016, Saudi Arabia executed 47 people, including Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, on charges of "terrorism." This was followed by Iranian protesters burning down the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the consulate in Mashhad. Diplomatic relations between the two countries, already strained by the crisis in Yemen that began in March 2015, were completely severed.

Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations after 7 years following a meeting in Beijing, China, in 2023.