The statement called it a “flagrant violation of the norms and worldwide conventions and a grave breach of global obligations of Iran to the security of diplomatic missions and the safety of its crew”.
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Iranian protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Iran, on January 3.
The price cut comes after a diplomatic chasm opened this week between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and by extension, the Sunni and Shiite Muslim worlds. It has previously condemned the storming of the missions and stepped up its protest by summoning the Iranian ambassador.
Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran in protest at the attacks on Sunday and has severed air links with Iran.
Bahrain and Sudan followed suit on Monday, while the United Arab Emirates downgraded its diplomatic representation in Tehran, recalling its envoy and reducing the number of its diplomats in the Islamic republic.
“It’s not having an effect at the moment”, but “it’s something we’re tracking closely”, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said of the escalating dispute between the Sunni Saudi kingdom and the Shia Iranians over the execution by the Saudis of a Shia cleric.
They were angry over the execution of Saudi Shia leader Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was outspoken against the Gulf country’s ruling family and its treatment of Shia citizens.
“Saudi Arabia wants to portray itself as a strong country that can stop any opposition in its Eastern Province, or anywhere else”, says Khalifa Gaballah, the Arab affairs editor at Masry al-Youm, a prominent Egyptian newspaper.
Amongst this “Iranian confusion”, it was announced yesterday that the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will convene a meeting this Saturday to discuss the implications of the attacks on the Saudi embassy and consulate in Iran.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged Turkey to withdraw any unauthorized military forces from Iraq, the White House said.
Turkey also expressed alarm at the crisis, with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu saying: “We expect all countries in the region to show common sense and take steps aimed at easing tensions in the region”. Among those is Bahrain, which said Wednesday it had broken up a Shiite militant group backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. “We have always adopted a policy of interaction and dialogue”, Zarif said, reiterating that the violent scenes at the embassy were “not justified”.
Aside from fanning the flames of the Sunni-Shia sectarianism that blaze throughout the region, the conflict raises the specter of the two oil giants squaring off against each other.
Asking the diplomat to “immediately” convey Amman’s message to Tehran represented Jordan’s “initial stand”, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sabah Rafei.
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Al-Nimr, a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority, was executed after being convicted of sedition and of other crimes, though he long denied advocating violence.
