Status of Unwanted Individuals, Saudi Arabia 'Kicked Out' 5 Iranian Embassy Staff

JAKARTA - Saudi Arabia declared five Iranian Embassy employees in Riyadh, including the military attaché, as persona non grata (undesirable individuals).

This was quoted from a statement by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs released on Saturday, March 21.

Saudi Arabia also ordered them to leave the country within 24 hours, following the attack on the kingdom's territory.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has informed the Iranian military attaché, his assistant, and three other diplomatic mission employees to leave the kingdom within 24 hours, and declared them persona non grata," the statement read, quoted by Sputnik, Sunday, March 22.

Earlier this week, Qatar also expelled an Iranian military attaché's office employee on charges of violating the principles of good neighborly relations.

On February 28, Israel and the US launched a joint attack on the capital Tehran and a number of other cities in Iran. As a result of the joint attack, the then Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, along with a number of senior military commanders and thousands of civilians were killed.

Iran retaliated by launching a wave of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel as well as US bases and assets in the Middle East as a form of self-defense.