The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held an emergency meeting in Jeddah condemning the attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad.
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In the final communiqué of the meeting, the ministers condemned “the aggressions against the missions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Tehran and Mashhad, which constitute a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961”.
The attacks “contradict diplomatic standards”, and “interference in the affairs of any member state undermines our organization’s charter”, said Madani, referring to criticism by Iran’s leaders of Nimr’s execution.
The violence against Riyadh’s missions occurred after Saudi Arabia executed dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests in the kingdom. Nimr was one of four Shias put to death on January 2 alongside 43 Sunnis.
The statement affirmed that such attacks are incompatible with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Charter and the United Nations Charter, which call for strengthening confidence and encouraging friendly relations, mutual respect and cooperation between Member States, as well as peaceful settlement of disputes and maintenance of global peace and security and to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries.
“Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, Iran has established a record of spreading sedition, unrest and chaos in the region”, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted a senior foreign ministry official as saying.
Informed sources revealed for Asharq Al-Awsat that Iran faces huge isolation in the meeting of the foreign ministers.
The OIC calls itself the collective voice of the Muslim world. China, France and Pakistan have all sought a de-escalation.
“This situation turns us from effectively addressing the true challenges that threaten the future of our member states and their peoples”, he said, before going on to name recent attacks by suspected Islamist militants in Afghanistan, Turkey, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Libya and Mali.
“The importance of this meeting is in the fact that this aggression is not the first but only a part of a series of continuous attacks that diplomatic missions have been subjected to in Iran for 35 years”, Jubeir said.
In his remarks at the OIC meeting Thursday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused the kingdom’s Shiite rival of inciting sectarianism in the region.
Saudi Arabia and Iran support opposite sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen.
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Iran’s deputy FM also noted Tehran’s policy to boost unity and convergence among Muslim states and to reduce tensions among neighboring regional countries.
