On Thursday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming is visiting Saudi Arabia and will visit Iran.
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The Saudi-led coalition, which is supported by the United States, is targeting Houthi rebels aligned with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who resigned in 2012 following a popular uprising against his rule.
A Saudi-led coalition has been bombing Yemen since March, in an attempt to repel the Shia rebel Houthi movement, which is allied with Iran.
Iran on Thursday (Friday NZ Time) said Saudi warplanes had attacked its embassy in Yemen’s capital, a development that would exacerbate tensions between the major Shi’ite and Sunni powers in the region, and Riyadh said it would investigate the accusation.
Also today, Iran banned all products from Saudi Arabia and said a ban on Iranians travelling to the Saudi holy city of Mecca for the umrah pilgrimage would remain in place “until further notice”.
But analysts say he has resisted pressure from Iranian-backed Shia militias, politicians and protesters to close the newly reopened Saudi embassy in Baghdad.
Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after the attacks and Bahrain swiftly followed suit, severing diplomatic ties with Tehran and halting all flights to and from Iran.
“I have never heard your name before nor knew that we have diplomatic relations”, one Iranian wrote on twitter.
Earlier in the day, Tehran accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out an airstrike on its embassy, which injured several guards.
“For the past two-and-a-half years, Saudi Arabia has opposed Iran’s diplomacy”, he said at the press conference with Iraqi foreign minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Iranian state television made the announcement on Thursday.
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Iranian women gather during a demonstration against the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities, at Imam Hossein Square in the capital Tehran, January 4, 2016. It said the decision came during an emergency meeting of the Cabinet of President Hassan Rouhani.
