Opening a meeting of Arab League diplomatic chiefs in Cairo, the group’s head, Nabil al-Arabi, accused Tehran of “provocative acts”.
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The Cabinet noted the position of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Gulf Cooperation Council for Arab states, their strong condemnation of Iranian attacks, their categorical rejection of them, and holding Iranian authorities fully responsible according to their commitment to Vienna Conventions 1961 and 1963, and the worldwide law holding countries responsible for protecting diplomatic missions.
Though it was the executions of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shi-ite cleric and three other Shi’ite Muslims, which drove up sectarian tension with Shi-ite power Iran, analysts say they were meant mostly to send a signal to militant Sunnis.
“The Ministerial Council discussed the repercussions of the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad”.
Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after the incidents, deepening the crisis over the execution. The United Arab Emirates downgraded relations while some others recalled their envoys in protest.
Tensions between Saudia Arabia, the Middle East’s main Sunni Muslim state, and Shi’ite Muslim Iran, reached boiling point when Riyadh executed Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on January 2, 2016. He predicted that not all Arab nations will follow Riyadh’s lead.
The people of Pakistan were bonded with the people of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through historical, cultural and Islamic ties of brotherhood, he told Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister Prince Mohammad bin Salman al Saud.
The ongoing confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, longtime powerful rivals, is further endangering regional stability, further complicating the already intricate situation in the Middle East.
“We will not allow Saudi actions to have a negative impact”.
But after the talks in Tehran, and with Saudi officials in the last week, de Mistura said both countries had vowed to continue to support peace efforts.
“The Saudi foreign minister assured me that there would be no impact from their point of view”.
President Hassan Rouhani asked Iran’s judiciary last week to urgently prosecute those who attacked the Saudi embassy “to put an end once and for all to such damage and insults to Iran’s dignity and national security”.
Naqdi noted that the USA is doing its utmost to infiltrate Iran, saying that Washington is training terrorists and arming them along Iran’s eastern and western borders.
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It wasn’t clear if his replacement was linked to the embassy attack.
