Summoning of Saudi Chargé d'Affaires Following Sexual Assault on Two Iranian Teenagers in Jeddah

Following the news of the "sexual harassment" of two Iranian teenagers by Saudi police officers at Jeddah airport, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Saudi chargé d'affaires in Tehran. According to Fars News Agency, Hassan Qashqavi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular, Parliamentary, and Iranian Affairs, stated on Monday, April 6, that Iran's "strong protest against this heinous act" was presented to the Saudi chargé d'affaires, and they are "waiting for Riyadh to deal with these individuals and impose the harshest punishment on them." Qashqavi added that the Saudi side expressed deep regret over this despicable incident and promised that the matter would be pursued at the highest levels by their officials and that those responsible would be dealt with severely. The incident was referred to as "quasi-rape" by Qashqavi, who mentioned that it occurred during a body search. Mehdi Davatgari, head of the National Demands Committee in Parliament, explained the incident, stating that "Saudi officers, during the body search of passengers, led two Iranian teenagers aged 14 and 15 to the female inspection room under the pretext that they were suspicious and the gate alarm went off, and unfortunately, they were disrespected." He continued in an interview with the Young Journalists Club: "From the information we have, it seems that due to the protests and noise from these teenagers, the officers were unable to fully carry out their heinous act." This parliament member added: "It appears that the noise from these two Iranian teenagers prevented other Saudi officers from continuing their heinous actions, and they were apparently detained, although this matter is subject to follow-up to see if the Saudi officers have been arrested or not." Davatgari remarked: "In the past, we have witnessed similar cases where when Saudi officials faced such actions by their officers, those officers were executed by the Saudi judiciary." He concluded by stating: "About two years ago, a Saudi diplomat, while drunk, murdered an Iranian citizen and injured another, and today we see that in broad daylight at Jeddah airport, two Iranian teenagers are openly assaulted." His reference was to a traffic incident that occurred in March 2013 in Tehran, where, according to Iranian media, one of the staff members of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, while driving under the influence, caused a severe accident that resulted in the death of an Iranian citizen and injury to a passerby.