Several allies of Saudi Arabia, including Bahrain, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia followed suit in cutting ties, as the crisis between the Middle East’s foremost Sunni and Shiite Muslim drew worldwide concern.
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Iraq is willing to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia, its foreign minister said, as a deepening diplomatic row between the two regional heavyweights continued.
The sultanate “expressed its deep regret” over the attacks, which it described as “unacceptable” in a foreign ministry statement published by the official ONA news agency.
“A war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the beginning of a major catastrophe in the region, and it will reflect very strongly on the rest of the world”.
“We have treated these actions with magnanimity and nobleness but unfortunately our neighbor, Saudi Arabia did not respond to it”, Zarif said, speaking alongside his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jafaari in the Iranian capital on Wednesday. Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced it was severing relations with Iran because of the assaults.
His death sparked Shia demonstrations in many countries including Iran, where protesters stormed and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the kingdom’s consulate in second city Mashhad.
Saudi Arabia says last week’s executions were a domestic matter, and that Iran is the country pursuing sectarian division by casting itself as the champion of Arab Shi’ites.
The comments came as 54 Iranian diplomats and their families returned to Iran after the Shiite regime cut diplomatic ties with the Saudis following the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Iran accused the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen of deliberately bombing its embassy and injuring staff, worsening already-strained tensions between the rival powers. However, an Associated Press reporter who reached the site just after the announcement saw no visible damage at the building.
President Hassan Rouhani criticized the incident and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice but Saudi Arabia made a decision to sever ties with Iran.
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The Iranian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Hossein Sadeghi was quoted on state television as saying that anger at Nimr’s execution was natural but the response was not.
