Iranian riot police block a street leading to the Saudi embassy as protesters march with portraits of Shia cleric on Sunday.
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The crisis between conservative Sunni kingdom and Shi’ite power Iran, both major oil exporters, started when Saudi Arabia executed Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on January 2, triggering outrage among Shi’ites across the Middle East.
The Saudi side has not confirmed the airstrike claim.
The Associated Press reported that an AP correspondent in Sanaa could see no damage to the embassy.
Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister (pictured above, right), criticized Saudi Arabia for its confrontational attitude and blamed it for exacerbating tensions.
The GCC “totally supports decisions taken by Saudi Arabia to combat terrorism” and “has total confidence in the independence and integrity of Saudi justice”.
Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic ties with Iran this week after Iranian mobs attacked Saudi diplomatic compounds.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia formally severed diplomatic ties with Iran, and was joined by Bahrain, Sudan and Djibouti, while the United Arab Emirates downgraded its diplomatic relations with Iran and Kuwait recalled its ambassador. “Whether you approve or not of the decision is a separate issue”, Erdogan said in a televised speech, his first reaction to the controversy that has raised tensions between Saudi Arabia and its regional rival Iran.
Zarif reacted by saying Saudi Arabia had been opposing his country’s diplomacy for over two years.
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That diplomatic rift has dampened hopes for a timely resolution to Yemen’s civil war, where Iran backs Houthi rebels who are seeking to reinstall former president Saleh. Prior to his death, he had been pronounced guilty of “seeking foreign meddling in country, disobeying its leaders and taking up arms against the security forces”.
