Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 individuals on terrorism charges on January 2, including prominent Shiite cleric Namir al-Namir, caused angry protests in Shi’ite-dominated Iran and an attack on the Saudi diplomatic mission in Tehran.
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“We have good relations both with Iran and Saudi Arabia, though we have certain well-known divergence of opinions (with Riyadh) over Syria”.
While in Saudi, Zhang talked about the situation between Saudi Arabia and Iran and “hopes the relevant parties maintain calm and exercise restraint, step up dialogue and consultations and jointly promote an amelioration of the situation”, the ministry said. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir also rejected Tehran’s claims it was using the dispute to back away from worldwide efforts to finally end Syria’s almost five-year civil war.
“Saudi Arabia and the Arab world have reached a point where we need to say ‘enough, ‘” he said.
Meanwhile, in the Sunni nation of Pakistan, the chief of the army announced that any threat to the territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia would provoke a sharp response from Pakistan. “It strongly condemned these acts and stated that Iran carries the responsibility for these terrorist acts”, said GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani following a meeting in Riyadh of the foreign ministers.
On Sunday, Jaber Ansari said that Iran was seeking to sooth tensions in the region including its frictions with Saudi Arabia. “The outrageous beheading recently of Sheikh Nimr was immediately preceded by a sermon of hatred toward Shi’ites by a Grand Mosque preacher in Mecca, who past year said that “our disagreement with Shi’ites will not be removed, nor our suicide to fight them” as long as Shi’ites remained on the earth”.
“The Arab countries stand united with Saudi Arabia”, a final statement read.
Other Arab countries followed their Sunni ally in cutting or reducing diplomatic relations with Shiite-dominated Iran.
In a closing statement distributed after the meeting, the Arab League also referred to the reported discovery by Bahrain of a militant group that it said was backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
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In his op-ed, Zarif defended his country’s reaction to the attacks on Saudi diplomatic facilities, saying Tehran took immediate action to return order at the compound in Tehran and punished those responsible for the lapse in embassy security.
