Somalia’s move came after Djibouti and Sudan, two other east African nations, joined Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, amid a growing row between Tehran and Riyadh over Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. “They are reviewing a crime, and a procedure, and a trial, and a sentence and carrying out the sentence”.
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Salami has accused Saudi Arabia of instigating war in the region and backing terrorist organizations.
The ministry says it has recalled its acting ambassador to Iran and ordered Iranian diplomats to leave Somalia within 72 hours.
Russian Federation offered to intervene in the conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but Riyadh declined.
“Russia is a great power, Russia has 20 million Muslims living in it, Russia can play a positive role and we wanted to engage with Russia, we wanted to improve our relationship with Russia not at the expense of our relationship with any other country but for the sake of having better ties with Russia”, the minister added.
The Saudi-led coalition operating against rebels in Yemen will investigate Iran’s claim, spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri told Reuters, saying warplanes had targeted missile launchers used by Houthi militants.
The neighborhood in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, has been struck before as it is home to several strategic sites.
The SPA report concluded, “The GCC Ministerial Council urged the global community to take necessary measures to compel Iran to respect the principle of good neighborliness, to stop its activities destabilizing the region, to stop its support for terrorism, to not interfere in the internal affairs of the GCC countries and the region’s countries, and to not use or threaten to use force”. On Thursday, the AP reporter said the embassy was still standing without any visible damage. Saudi officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Zarif said Sunni Saudi Arabia had engaged in a series of “direct provocations” toward Shi’ite Iran, including the execution of Nimr and what he described as “persistent mistreatment” of Iranian pilgrims visiting Mecca.
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It would increase American lawmakers’ oversight of the Iran agreement announced in July. The decision was taken in an emergency cabinet meeting with President Hassan Rouhani, ISNA said.
