Javad Zarif said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon obtained Friday by The Associated Press that Iran has “no desire or interest in escalation of tension in our neighborhood” and hopes Saudi Arabia will “heed the cause of reason”. “For sure we will not allow any such thing”.
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Iran vowed to file a report about their claim to the United Nations, while the Saudi military issued a statement through the kingdom’s state news agency, dismissing the allegation as false.
In eastern Saudi Arabia, where al-Nimr agitated for greater political rights for Shiites in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, three days of mourning over his death were to end Wednesday night. Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced it was severing relations with Iran because of the assaults. “They are reviewing a crime, and a procedure, and a trial, and a sentence and carrying out the sentence”.
Oman broke its silence on the Mideast turmoil and called the Saudi diplomatic post attacks “unacceptable”, while leaving its ties to Iran untouched. The Shiite-led government in Baghdad relies on Iranian help to battle the extremist Islamic State group, but is also trying to fix ties to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which last week sent an ambassador to Baghdad for the first time in 25 years.
Somalia says it has cut diplomatic ties with Iran amid ongoing tensions between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia. Other countries have downgraded their ties to Iran.
It came as the crisis between Tehran and Riyadh over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric showed little sign of abating. On Thursday, the AP reporter said the embassy was still standing without any visible damage.
Late on Wednesday night, dozens of airstrikes hit Yemen’s capitol, Sana’a, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting Shiite rebels called Houthis on behalf of Yemen’s government.
Calling the incidents “totally unjustifiable”, Rouhani has since been followed by numerous top officials and clerics who have also hit out at the attack for damaging Iran s reputation.
Speaking to the media, Somalia’s foreign minister Abdisalan Hadliye condemned the attack on Saudi embassy, adding that Somalia enjoys a close diplomatic tie with the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Jordan summoned Iran’s ambassador in Amman on Wednesday to condemn the embassy attack, and “Iranian interference” in Arab affairs, according to Jordanian state news agency Petra. The Thursday decision was made in a cabinet meeting chaired by President Hassan Rouhani, according to Iranian student news agency ISNA.
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Annual imports from Saudi Arabia total about $60 million a year and consisted mostly of packing materials and textiles.
