TEHRAN - The growing rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran after years of mistrust is visible as Saudi Arabia helped evacuate Iranian citizens fleeing the war in Sudan.

The Saudi navy carried the 65 Iranian citizens from Port Sudan to Jeddah.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani on Monday called the transfer "a positive event" that had taken place thanks to Saudi-Iranian cooperation.

Ahmed al-Dabais, a senior Saudi military officer handling the operation, told Iranian evacuees in a video carried by local television that the two countries were good friends and brothers and that they should regard the kingdom as their own country.

Saudi Arabia, across the Red Sea from Sudan, has been a major hub for the evacuation effort as countries have worked to pull thousands of foreign citizens out of the conflict that suddenly erupted on April 15.

Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic relations in 2016 after Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom's Tehran embassy following Riyadh's execution of the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. He was among 47 dissidents put to death.

However, the two major oil producers agreed to end their rift and reopen diplomatic missions in a deal brokered on March 10 by China.

The two Middle East powerhouses had held several rounds of dialogue in Iraq and Oman before reaching the agreement to mend ties.

Saudi Arabia, Iran to reopen embassies ‘within days’

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Friday that Iran and Saudi Arabia will reopen embassies in each other’s capitals “within days”.

Speaking at a news conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut, Amir Abdollahian said, “During the last phone call between the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia on Eid al-Fitr, we agreed to work in the next coming days on the reopening of the Iranian and Saudi embassies in Tehran and Riyadh.”

In his Monday press briefing, Kanaani said the two nations are in the early stages of resuming relations and reopening embassies, noting that three Iranian diplomatic missions in Riyadh and Jeddah have already begun their operations.

On April 17, Kanaani also said President Ebrahim Raisi had "invited the Saudi King to visit Iran."

He also said the Iranian president had already received an invitation to visit the kingdom.

At the time, the spokesman also expressed hope that Iran and Saudi Arabia would reopen their respective diplomatic missions by May 9.

"We and the Saudi side insist on activating the embassies in a very timely manner so that Iranian pilgrims can attend a calm hajj pilgrimage using the services provided by the embassy," he told reporters.

The annual hajj pilgrimage to holy sites in Saudi Arabia, one of the pillars of Islam, is expected to begin this year in late June.

On April 6 the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers held talks in Beijing on the implementation of normalization of ties.

"The foreign ministers of the two countries will meet" again before the reopening of the embassies, the spokesman said.

An aviation industry official in Iran has also said Saudi Arabia is seeking direct flights between its Shia-majority city of Dammam and Iran’s Mashhad as part of efforts to improve relations between the two countries.

Maghsud As’adi, who leads Association of Iranian Airlines, said on Monday that launching flights to Iran’s second largest city of Mashhad in northeast of the country and home to a major Shia shrine, is a priority for Saudi Arabia, Press TV reported.

As’adi said the flight route could serve Saudi Arabia’s Shia community which is based in the eastern city of Dammam.

He said the route could also lead to increased tourism visits by Saudis to other Iranian cities, especially to natural resorts in northern Iran.

The remarks come weeks after Iran’s transportation ministry said it had received an official request from Saudi Arabian authorities for three regular flights between the two countries.