Saudi Arabia and some other Sunni Arab countries have broken all ties with Iran after protesters in Tehran stormed the Saudi embassy in protest over Riyadh’s execution of a Shia Muslim cleric.
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“This deliberate action by Saudi Arabia is a violation of all global conventions that protect diplomatic missions”, foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said, quoted by state television.
Iranian prayers are preparing to rally against the execution of a prominent Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia, after Friday Congregational Prayer.
Meanwhile, Iran’s diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia will affect the Syrian peace talks, Tehran’s deputy foreign minister said, adding his government would remain committed to the talks.
A number of other Arab states have either cut or downgraded the diplomatic ties with Tehran.
Federal officials have told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Canada’s strategic interest would be well served by strengthening economic ties with oil-rich Saudi Arabia because of its powerful position in the Persian Gulf.
“It does not augur well for the region’s political stability, which has been exacerbated by deep-rooted Saudi concerns about the implementation of the nuclear agreement with Tehran”, he said.
Iran on Thursday accused a Saudi-led coalition of hitting its embassy in Yemen in an airstrike and even though no damage was visible on the building from the outside, the allegation highlighted how the two countries’ standoff could endanger the greater Middle East.
“The coalition command confirmed that these (Iranian) allegations are false and void, stressing that it does not carry out any operations in the vicinity of the embassy or near it”, a statement on the state Saudi news agency SPA said late on Thursday.
Speaking to The Economist, Prince Mohammed defended al-Nimr’s execution. “They are reviewing a crime, and a procedure, and a trial, and a sentence and carrying out the sentence”.
The Yemeni civil war also has been turned into a proxy war between the administration of Sunni President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, and pro-Iranian Shiite armed forces. Canada’s export-control regime is “carefully reviewed and that human rights considerations are seriously taken into account before a permit is issued”, said Adam Barratt. It said the decision came during an emergency meeting of the Cabinet of President Hassan Rouhani. He promised that Saudi Arabia will not allow Iran “to undermine our security”. Iran’s annual imports from Saudi Arabia total about $60 million a year and consisted mostly of packing materials and textiles.
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Al-Haj reported from Sanaa, Yemen.
