Saudi Arabia Frees 9 Iranian Fisherman

Saudi Arabia has freed nine Iranian fishermen detained two years ago, Iranian state television said on Thursday but a tenth fisherman was killed in the initial incident, his brother said, Reuters reported. Tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia has run high in recent years. The two countries have backed opposing forces in wars across the Middle East.

Saudi authorities released the men in a boat in Iranian waters on Wednesday and state television showed pictures of them being welcomed by their families.

Saudi coast guards arrested the men in the Persian Gulf somewhere between Farsi and Arabi Islands and accused them of entering its waters, Tasnim News Agency quoted a local official in Iran’s Fisheries Organization in southern city of Bushehr as saying.

The coast guards shot the boat’s owner and “no sign of him has been found,” Ahmadi said. A fisherman told state television “his brother was killed” in the incident and “his body remains in a morgue in Saudi Arabia.”