TEHRAN, Aug. 01 (MNA) – Iranian Deputy Culture Minister Hossein Noushabadi says the Saudis are evading reaching an actual sentence verdict for the two security officers accused of sexually harassing two Iranian teenagers.

Spokesman of Iran's Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry Hossein Noushabadi told Mehr News correspondent that the Saudi regime has become so entangled with the war in Yemen that “they seem as if they have forgotten to attend to the Islamic Republic’s demands.”

Citing suspicion, Saudi officers reportedly took two Iranian teenagers, aged 14 and 15, away, while performing body search on passengers at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah in April. The teenagers were subjected to indecent acts by the Saudi officers.

Following the harassment, Iran summoned the Saudi chargé d’affaires to ask Riyadh to expedite the measures taken in the process of punishing the accused.

So far, none of the preconditions the Islamic Republic had set, including the punishment of the two Arab perpetrators, in order to resume the Umrah Hajj pilgrimage have been met, said Noushabadi.

Noushabadi added that the Islamic Republic has found the verdict issued at a court of first instance in Saudi Arabia is completely disproportionate to the crime committed.

He further stressed that as long as the Saudi government has not made a formal apology and the criminals have not been punished, the entire Umrah flights will remain suspended.

Noushabadi also maintained that Saudis are not qualified to be in charge of Ka'ba and Hajj affairs, and that Iran looks forward for the formation of a council composed of trustees of Muslim countries to manage this sacred place.

By Mehr News Agency