“For the past 2¹/₂ years, Saudi Arabia has opposed Iran’s diplomacy”, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif charged at a news conference.
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A Saudi-led coalition has waged an air war on Iran-backed rebels in Yemen since March and the impoverished nation’s conflict is one of the main sources of dispute between the two regional adversaries.
Mr Jubeir said: “The escalation is coming from Iran, not from Saudi Arabia or the GCC…
It goes against worldwide law”, the semi-official IRIN news agency quoted Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari as saying on Thursday.
The crisis between the conservative Sunni kingdom and Shi’ite power Iran, both major oil exporters, started when Saudi Arabia executed Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Jan 2, triggering outrage among Shi’ites across the Middle East.
The attacks have led to Tehran and Riyadh rupturing ties, and Saudi Arabia’s closest Sunni allies stepping into the fray to cut or downgrade relations with Tehran.
Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran in response, and on Sunday, Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic ties with Iran.
It said: “It was stressed to the ambassador that the attacks on Saudi Arabian embassy and consulate in Tehran and Meshed were completely unacceptable and inexplicable”.
The Saudi-led coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said the accusations would be investigated and explained that the coalition had conducted heavy airstrikes against Houthi militants’ missile launchers.
The decision was made in a cabinet meeting chaired by President Hassan Rouhani, it said.
Nimr al-Nimr, 57, a Shiite cleric from Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province, was a well-known figure at anti-government demonstrations and criticized Saudi rulers in some of his sermons for their treatment of the kingdom’s Shiite minority.
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Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, predicted “divine vengeance” for the execution of al-Nimr, an outspoken opponent of the ruling Al Saud family.
