The Saudi Arabian government ordered the military attaché and other diplomatic staff members at the Iranian Embassy to leave Riyadh within 24 hours. The officials were formally declared persona non grata following a drone attack directed at the Diplomatic Quarter in the Saudi capital, a highly secured zone that houses numerous foreign missions and the United States Embassy.
The expulsion represents a major diplomatic rupture amid the escalating 2026 Middle East conflict involving Iran, Israel, and the United States. Hostilities have increasingly drawn neighboring Gulf states into the crossfire. The Saudi mandate follows a similar decision by the Qatari government, which expelled Iranian diplomats after an Iranian missile strike caused extensive damage to the Ras Laffan Industrial City energy hub.
The broader regional conflict continues to intensify, characterized by sweeping United States and Israeli military campaigns directed at Iranian assets and corresponding Iranian ballistic missile retaliations striking targets across the Middle East. Regional powers are increasingly severing remaining diplomatic ties as attacks on critical infrastructure and embassies compound the immediate security crisis for foreign personnel.