U.S. lifts threat warning in Saudi Arabia

The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh said it resumed consular services in Saudi Arabia nearly two weeks after threats to Western oil workers surfaced.

Heighted security concerns at U.S. diplomatic facilities in Saudi Arabia prompted a cancellation of consular services mid-March. An embassy statement during the weekend said services returned to normal Sunday.

"All U.S. citizens are encouraged to continue to be aware of their surroundings and take extra precautions when traveling throughout the country," the embassy said.

A March 13 statement said there was information to suggest terrorists or terrorist sympathizers could be plotting against Western oil workers. U.S. citizens working for oil companies in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia may be the target of violence of kidnapping threats, the embassy warned.

A February warning from the U.S. State Department said there may be risks to U.S. citizens traveling to Saudi Arabia. Westerners and Shiites were attacked in Eastern province in November.

The Saudi Interior Ministry vowed to use "an iron fist" when violence in the Shiite-dominated Eastern province, the center of the kingdom's oil industry, erupted in 2011. Those warnings coincided with the wave of uprisings in the region dubbed the Arab Spring.

The embassy in its mid-March warnings offered no specifics about the methods, groups or timing of the alleged plots to Westerners.