Tehran, Apr 30 (IANS): Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has said that Iran had evacuated 65 nationals from Sudan with the help of Saudi Arabia.

In a statement posted on the website of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Kanaani on Saturday added that the Iranian evacuees were transferred safely from Khartoum to Port Sudan and then to the Saudi port city of Jeddah.

While praising the Saudi government for its "effective cooperation" and the Sudanese government for its assistance during the evacuation, the spokesman said necessary arrangements had been made to transfer the evacuees from Saudi Arabia to Iran.

A growing number of countries have evacuated citizens from Sudan since fierce clashes broke out between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in mid-April, Xinhua news agency reported.

At least 459 people have been killed and more than 4,000 wounded so far in the fighting in Sudan, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced, according to estimates by the WHO and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Saudi Arabia and Iran reached a deal in March to resume diplomatic relations and reopen embassies and missions in the two countries within two months.

On April 6, the two countries announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with immediate effect.