Saudi Arabia expels five Iranian Embassy staff within 24 hours

Doha (ANTARA) - Saudi Arabia has declared five employees of the Iranian Embassy in Riyadh, including the military attaché, as persona non grata, according to a statement from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs released on Saturday (21/3). Saudi Arabia has also ordered them to leave the country’s territory within 24 hours, following attacks on the kingdom’s territory. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has notified the Iranian military attaché, his assistant, and three other diplomatic mission employees to leave the kingdom’s territory within 24 hours and declared them persona non grata,” the statement read. Earlier this week, Qatar also expelled an employee from the Iranian military attaché’s office on charges of violating the principles of good neighbourly relations. On 28 February, Israel and the US launched joint attacks on Teheran and several other cities in Iran. As a result of the joint attacks, Iran’s Supreme Leader at the time, Ali Khamenei, along with several senior military commanders and thousands of civilians, were killed. Iran retaliated by launching waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases and assets in the Middle East as a form of self-defence.