The move is seen as another step toward thawing relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia
Iran said it was lifting visa requirements for 33 countries, including India, as it sought to boost tourism, according to a report by the Iranian Students News Agency.
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.
Besides India, other nations on the list include the Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with which Tehran had frosty relations for years until a recent rapprochement.
‘‘The ministry of tourism believes that an open-door policy will showcase Iran’s determination to engage with different countries of the world,’’ says ISNA.
The move is seen as another step toward 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.
ISNA gave a full list of the countries, which included Lebanon, Tunisia, India and several Central Asian and African nations. Croatia, a small member of the European Union and NATO, was the only Western-allied European nation on the list. ‘‘Russians will only profit from this visa exemption if they are visiting the country in groups,’’ ISNA said. Omani nationals had been able to travel to Iran visa-free prior to this announcement.
