Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili has called on Saudi Arabia to follow up on efforts to solve issues impeding the travel of Iranians to the kingdom for performing the umrah pilgrimage.

According to The Iran Project,Esmaili made the remarks in a meeting held in Tehran on Monday with Saudi ambassador to Iran Abdullah bin Saud al-Anzi.

Referring to the eagerness of the Iranian pilgrims to travel to Mecca and Medina to perform umrah, or lesser Hajj, he regretted the fact that technical obstacles are hindering pilgrimage flights to those holy cities in Saudi Arabia.

In his remarks, the minister said the Islamic Republic has appointed cultural attachés in its diplomatic missions in 80 countries across the world as he expressed Iran's willingness to exchange cultural attachés with Saudi Arabia.

Esmaili extended an invitation to his Saudi counterpart to visit Iran to create a new atmosphere for cultural cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

For his part, the Saudi ambassador said that the obstacles to umrah pilgrimage for Iranian pilgrims will be solved soon.

Saudi Arabia is honored to be able to host Muslims from around the world, including Iranians, Anzi said.

The problem relates to some executive affairs and some technical issues about the flights, he said, adding that issues are being solved.