After Iranian demonstrators stormed Tehran’s Saudi embassy in protest, Saudi Arabia cut all ties with Iran.
Advertisement
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.
Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have run high since the Sunni monarchy rang in 2016 with the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
Iran denounced those attacks, but the repercussions quickly rippled across the region with Saudi allies Bahrain, Sudan and Djibouti also cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran.
The United Arab Emirates downgraded relations with Iran while Kuwait and Qatar recalled their ambassadors. In particular, the Saudi embassy in the capital Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad were attacked, after which Riyadh broke off diplomatic ties with Tehran on January 3. Condemning the move, protesters took to the streets in Iran, the biggest Shiite country, and attacked the Saudi embassy.
The IRGC promised “harsh revenge” against the Saudi royal dynasty for Nimr’s death, saying it would “cost Saudi Arabia dearly”. It said the decision came during an emergency meeting of the cabinet of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Last week, President Erdoğan paid a two-day official visit to Saudi Arabia, where he met King Salman bin Abdul Aziz for talks focused on the Syrian crisis and energy cooperation between the two countries.
The Reuters news agency reported that Sanaa had been pounded by dozens of air strikes on Thursday in what it said residents described as the heaviest bombardment in the Saudi-led nine-month military campaign.
Iran on Thursday accused the Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels in Yemen of hitting its embassy there in an overnight airstrike, but the building bore no visible damage.
“The Zionist regime plans, the United States supports and Saudi Arabia sources the necessary funds”, Kashani said, according to IRNA.
The deputy head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards told Saudi Arabia on Thursday it would “collapse” in coming years if it kept pursuing what he called its sectarian policies in the region.
Advertisement
Zarif also accused the Saudis of mistreating Iraqi pilgrims which has fueled “public outrage in Iran”, and appointing preachers who have made “a routine practice of hate speech not only against Iran but against all Shiite Muslims”. Annual imports from Saudi Arabia – mainly packing materials and textiles – total about $60 million a year.
