In a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday Zarif said that Saudi Arabia was directly provoking his country and looking for ways to drag the entire region into sectrarian conflict.
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According to the Express Tribune, the statement coincided with the United Nations peace envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura’s visit to Tehran for talks on Syria.
The mission and the Saudi consulate in Mashhad, Iran’s second city, were attacked and torched on January 2 in anger over Riyadh’s execution of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent cleric from the kingdom’s Shia minority.
Speaking during an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League foreign affairs ministerial council, Bouaida said Morocco rejects any sectarian or communal rhetoric logic that is used as a pretext “to interfere in the internal affairs of countries”.
Jaber Ansari said cutting ties with Iran and putting pressure on other countries in doing so will not benefit Riyadh, calling its policies on the region “destructive”.
The Tehran government quickly distanced itself from the attack, saying the protesters had entered the Saudi embassy despite widespread efforts by the police to stop them.
Zarif denounced Riyadh’s “barbarism” in its execution of prisoners and, in a thinly veiled reference, accused Saudi Arabia of supporting the ultra-radical Islamic State group.
The Saudi Foreign Minister’s main topic of discussion was supposed to be to explore the role that Pakistan can play as a participant in the 34-member “Islamic anti-terror coalition”, a brainchild of Prince Salman. After a mob in Tehran attacked the Saudi embassy, the government in Riyadh severed diplomatic and some commercial ties, and several allies followed suit.
“I think mostly it’s going to be very important for Western actors to recognise the need to strike a balanced approach in this escalation”, Geranmayeh said.
“Saudi Arabia has collapsed and has been isolated”.
The Iranian foreign minister accused Saudi Arabia in turn of targeting Iranian facilities in other countries and failing to protect Iranians making the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Cavusoglu said Turkey was working to improve relations with Iran but noted that Ankara and Tehran viewed regional issues from different perspectives.
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Both countries had joined worldwide talks launched in Vienna past year that backed an 18-month plan to end the conflict and foresees further talks on January 25.
