Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir was bound for Tehran over the weekend when his plane was barred from flying over Saudi Arabia's airspace. The sole reason was that Sudanese authorities had failed to properly coordinate its intentions to the authorities from Saudi Arabia.

"The (Authority) denied permission to a private plane (Sunday) from crossing its airspace in a flight between Khartoum and Tehran international airports ... for the lack of the needed regulatory approval," Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) said in a statement.

Although the pilot of the plane carrying Mr Al-Bashir did inform his desire to fly over Saudi Arabia, authorities maintained it was already too late.

"Under internationally recognized procedures, a permit should be applied for 48 hours before departure of diplomatic flights," GACA's statement said.

"The government of Sudan did not submit an official application for a diplomatic permit for the plane."

Mr Al-Bashir was on his way to attend the swearing-in of President Hassan Rowhani, Iran's new leader, in Tehran on Sunday. But because of Saudi Arabia's refusal to cross their airspace, his plane had to return to Khartoum.

"No other reasons prohibited the plane from crossing the kingdom's airspace," Saudi Arabia maintained.

Reports later pointed out that the plane the Sudanese president used was not the presidential aircraft but was a plane rented from a Saudi company.

"The plane used in this flight had a temporary permit to land at Saudi Arabia's international airports for the owner's personal use only, but this permit did not authorize leasing the plane to others. Moreover, the plane used in this flight was registered outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was for private use. Therefore, the regulations of the 'country of registration' or of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia do not allow using the plane for commercial purposes," GACA said.