ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif have flown to Riyadh to try and mediate the ongoing dispute between archrivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Pakistani state television showed footage Monday of the two men boarding a plane for Riyadh.

Sharif, the prime minister, is scheduled to meet with Saudi King Salman before heading to Tehran Tuesday to meet Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry says that Islamabad is deeply concerned at the recent escalation of tensions between the two countries. The two nations have been rivals for years but the current tensions erupted after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric and opposition leader on January 2. Angry crowds in Iran stormed the Saudi embassy, and Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Tehran in protest.