The comments were made during a press conference in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on hand, during which al-Jaafari suggested that Iraq’s involvement could help “alleviate tensions”, the BBC reports. Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said if tensions were allowed to escalate, the entire region could be affected.
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AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr wave their national flag and hold posters of Nimr during a demonstration in Baghdad on Monday. When Isis carried out that barbaric practice it is rightly condemned, when Saudi Arabia uses it, the world has for too long looked away. “Whether you approve of the decision or not is a separate issue”, Erdoğan said in a televised speech, his first reaction to the controversy which has raised tensions between Saudi Arabia and its regional rival Iran. “The process of provoking tension must be stopped”.
President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia could not “hide its crime of beheading a religious leader by severing political relations with Iran”.
Don was speaking after attending a weekly Cabinet meeting at which, he said, the government was informed about the crisis.
Saudi Arabia cut all ties with Iran on Sunday following the kingdom’s execution of prominent Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
In particular, the Saudi embassy in the capital Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad were attacked, after which Riyadh broke off diplomatic ties with Tehran on January 3.
“Djibouti cut its diplomatic ties with Iran out of solidarity with Saudi Arabia”, Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf told Reuters in a text message.
Bahrain says it has broken up a militant Shiite group backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and the Lebanese Hezbollah. Bahrain and other Gulf states have been quick to back the Saudis, as has a Sunni majority state as far away as Sudan.
He said the coalition would investigate Iran’s accusation and added that the Houthis has used civilian facilities including abandoned embassies. The United Arab Emirates also downgraded relations with Iran while Kuwait and Qatar recalled their ambassadors.
Great rivalry explained: Why don’t Iran and Saudi Arabia get along? The last Iranian Hajj ban lasted three years.
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Saudi Arabia’s execution of Nimr al-Nimr has angered Shi’ites across the Middle East and caused a major diplomatic row between mainly Shi’ite Iran and Saudi Arabia’s conservative Sunni monarchy.
