Iraq offered to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran to end their dispute triggered by Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shi’ite cleric, saying on Wednesday it could spill over into the rest of the region.
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The Security Council joined those calls, issuing a statement urging all sides to “take steps to reduce tensions in the region”. Protesters in Tehran responded by attacking the Saudi embassy.
The assaults on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad followed vehement Iranian criticism of Sunni Saudi Arabia for executing leading Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr after convicting him of “terrorism”.
SAUDI Arabia has said it would restore ties with Iran when Tehran stopped meddling in the affairs of other countries and pledged that Riyadh would continue to work “very hard” to support bids for peace in Syria and Yemen despite the spat. Given the importance of both Saudi Arabia and Iran to the global oil markets, it’s no great surprise that tension between them are spooking the markets.
Oil prices edged higher in Asia today, ahead of the release of a USA stockpiles report, with investors also keeping an eye on a worsening diplomatic row between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
De Mistura is also expected in Iran later this week and in Damascus on Saturday, UN sources said. However, Kuwait did not say it would sever its ties to Iran over the tensions.
Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran have been standing on opposing sides in the Middle East’s worst conflicts.
Iran’s official state broadcaster IRIB said the diplomats have arrived in Tehran, showing pictures of their plane after it landed at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport.
It comprised US$132.2mn of Iranian exports, particularly fruit and steel, and US$40.2mn of imports from Saudi Arabia, mainly fabrics and packaging products.
In a letter to Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli-Larijani on Wednesday, President Hassan Rouhani denounced the attacks as a breach of the Islamic Republic’s security.
Jaafari, who was to hold talks later with Rouhani, said Iraq was seeking a potential diplomatic role to help resolve the crisis and echoed the concerns about sectarianism.
The Saudi move comes as arch-rival Iran, a fellow OPEC member, prepares to resume oil exports to Europe when sanctions are lifted following its nuclear deal with world powers previous year.
“We should be keeping a close eye on events in Bahrain”, he said.
There was no immediate reaction from Saudi Arabia to the Iraqi mediation offer.
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Last month, the kingdom announced it was setting up a 34-nation Islamic coalition to combat the “disease” of extremism, but nothing has been done and the initiative has been seen as little more than a claim to leadership of the region to the exclusion of Iran.
