“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.
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The statement by the 15-member council condemned “in the strongest terms” the attacks which saw protesters firebomb the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Iran’s second-biggest city Mashhad.
Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shi’ite cleric on Saturday has inflamed tension across the Middle East and infuriated Iran, Riyadh’s main rival in the region.
Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced it was severing relations with Iran because of the assaults, giving Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave.
In response to rumours that Pakistan was also exploring options about downgrading its diplomatic relations with Iran, Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said, “I will not comment on rumours and speculations”.
Kuwait said Tuesday the embassy attacks “represent a flagrant breach of global agreements and norms and a grave violation of Iran’s worldwide commitments”.
Oil prices slid more than 4 percent to new 11-year lows on Wednesday as the row between Saudi Arabia and Iran made any cooperation between major exporters to cut output even more unlikely.
General Ahmed Asseri, speaking for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, said it would investigate the accusation.
That deal, when finally implemented, will end sanctions on Iran’s oil and gas industry that could see the Islamic republic challenge Saudi Arabia’s role as the Middle East’s dominant energy and economic power.
The current feud was triggered by Saudi Arabia’s execution of a Shiite cleric for staging a street demonstration.
The most immediate casualty of intensified Saudi-Iranian tensions will be the recently launched U.S.-led diplomatic effort to end the horrific Syrian war that has already claimed more than 250,000 dead. However, the minister said Riyadh did not need help.
The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was en route to Riyadh on Monday with plans to later visit Tehran.
But analysts say he has resisted pressure from Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias, politicians and protesters to close the newly reopened Saudi embassy in Baghdad.
“For the Saudi leadership, there will be no compromise with Iran’s aggressive policy”, he said.
Several guards were injured in the late Wednesday airstrike at the Iranian embassy in Sanaa, Ansari said Thursday, but there were no reports of any deaths.
Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic ties with Iran after authorities executed a popular Shiite cleric.
Sheikh Nimr was among 47 people beheaded or shot by firing squad across Saudi Arabia on Saturday – the largest number of individuals executed in a single day since 1980.
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Al-Nimr was a key figure in anti-regime protests in 2011 and was arrested in 2012 after he called for two governorates to be separated from the kingdom.
