Iran summoned the Saudi ambassador to Tehran on Wednesday, hours after Saudi Arabia announced the execution of six Iranians on charges of smuggling hashish.

According to the official statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed the ambassador a strongly worded protest note, while the Director General of Consular Affairs, Karimi Shasti, expressed his strong protest against the news of the execution of the death sentence.

Shasti considered that “carrying out the execution (..) without prior notification to the (Iranian) embassy constitutes an absolutely unacceptable measure and a violation of international law, including the Treaty on Consular Relations.”

The Iranian official also informed the Saudi ambassador in Tehran that this measure completely contradicts the course of judicial cooperation between the two countries.

It was also decided that a legal and consular delegation from the Iranian Foreign Ministry would go to Riyadh to follow up on this file.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said on numerous occasions that the Kingdom is reducing executions

The Saudi authorities announced, on Wednesday, the execution of 6 Iranians convicted of smuggling drugs into the Kingdom.

On Wednesday, the Saudi authorities announced the execution of 6 Iranians who were convicted of smuggling drugs into the Kingdom.

The Ministry of Interior said that 6 Iranians, whom it mentioned by name, “smuggled hashish into the Kingdom,” and continued, “The death sentence was carried out as a discretionary killing in the Eastern Province,” without indicating the date of execution of the punishment.

Drug smuggling is a crime punishable by death in the Gulf Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia executed at least 330 people in 2024, the highest number in decades, despite the promises of the Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in 2022 to abolish the death penalty, with the exception of retribution, in accordance with his vision of a new, open kingdom.