Authorities in Tehran on Thursday accused the Saudi-led coalition now intervening against Houthi rebels in Yemen of hitting the Iranian Embassy in Sanaa in an overnight airstrike.
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Supporters of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was executed in Saudi Arabia, during an anti-Saudi protest in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Thursday.
“Iran holds the government of Saudi Arabia responsible for this act and wounding of a number of embassy staff and damages made to its building”, Ansari was quoted as saying by the website of the state-run IRIB network.
Crisis in Saudi Arabia-Iran relations will invariably complicate the situation in other region’s countries, such as Syria, Yemen and Iraq, senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, James Dorsey believes.
Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 individuals on terrorism charges, including Shiite cleric Namir al-Namir, a member of the Saudi Shiite community, caused angry protests in Iran and an attack on the Saudi diplomatic mission in Tehran. Nimr al-Nimr had demanded more rights for Shiites, who are a minority in Saudi Arabia, where most citizens are Sunni Muslims.
Bahrain followed the lead of its close ally Saudi Arabia in severing ties to Iran and canceling flights this week in response to protester attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.
“Iran considers it as a legal obligation to protect diplomats of foreign countries”, he said, adding that Iran seeks friendly ties with the regional states as well as its neighbors.
Saudi Arabia this week cut the February price of its export oil to Europe to win market share at Iran’s expense, Zarif pointed out.
Saudi officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Earlier Thursday, Saudi Arabia announced that its air forces shot down a missile fired from Yemen, where the kingdom is leading an anti-rebel coalition.
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Iranian protesters set fires at the Saudi embassy in Tehran following the execution of Sheik Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shiite cleric whose death sparked an outcry across much of the Shiite Muslim world.
