Qais al-Khazali, the head of the powerful Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, gave a speech in the southern city of Basra in which he called on Baghdad to cut diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, expel the newly arrived ambassador and boycott Saudi goods.
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The Jordanian government stressed its condemnation “of the Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Arab states”, the Petra news agency said.
Saudi diplomats in Iran returned to the kingdom on Tuesday, January 5, Saudi media reported.
In Iran, protesters responded by attacking the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad.
Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in response and was joined by several of its Sunni Arab allies including Bahrain and Sudan.
The Iranian government has also distanced itself from the Saudi embassy attack, and even suggested foreign elements organized it.
The row has raised fears of an increase in sectarian tensions in the Middle East that could derail efforts to resolve pressing issues including the wars in Syria and Yemen.
That incident followed anger in Iran, Iraq and other countries after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, on Saturday.
In a move seen created to sabotage Iran’s oil comeback, Saudi has been cutting the price of its oil exports for February delivery to European customers, and of some exports to the U.S. and the Middle East.
Zarif, meanwhile, blamed Saudi Arabia for exacerbating the situation.
Zarif said that from the first days of President Hassan Rouhani’s election in June 2013, both he and the president have sent public and private signals to Saudi Arabia “about our readiness to engage in dialogue and accommodation to promote regional stability and combat destabilizing extremist violence”.
“In the short term, there is no chance of an agreement within OPEC regarding production, and assuming there was some small chance, it has disappeared with the current crisis in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran”, said Pierre Terzian, head of the Petrostrategies weekly.
Bahrain says it has broken up a militant Shiite group backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Iran, a Shiite Muslim-dominated nation, has condemned the actions of Saudi Arabia, which is predominantly Sunni. It has faced low-level unrest since 2011 Arab Spring-inspired protests by Shiites seeking more political rights.
Al-Jubeir on Tuesday labeled al-Nimr – a critic of Saudi policy who was convicted in 2014 of sedition – a “terrorist” akin to Osama bin Laden.
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Oman broke its silence on the Mideast turmoil and called the Saudi diplomatic post attacks “unacceptable”, while leaving its ties to Iran untouched.
