Several other countries – a lot of them led by and/or containing mostly Sunni Muslims, like Saudi Arabia, as opposed to Shiite-led Iran – joined in.
Advertisement
“Iran will not accept this initiative of Turkey as these two countries have serious disagreement over the settlement of the Syrian crisis”, Tasgetiren told Trend Jan. 8.
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Thursday the Iranian ambassador was summoned to the office over Iranian media broadcast that linked Erdogan’s visit to Saudi Arabia with the executions of 47 people there.
On Wednesday, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, writing on Twitter, repeated his condemnations of attacks on Saudi diplomatic facilities in Iran in protests over the execution of the cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
The Houthis deny being under Iran’s influence and say they are fighting a revolution against a corrupt government and Gulf Arab powers beholden to the West.
Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties to Iran over the storming of two diplomatic posts in the country following the kingdom’s execution of a top Shiite cleric who was also an opposition figure.
Iranian officials have criticized Saudi Arabia’s abrupt move, saying Tehran has always acted with self-restraint to Riyadh’s actions. That is going to mean a big jump in OPEC supply, unless Iran and Saudi Arabia can persuade the cartel as a whole to reign in production.
Powerful Iran-backed Shi’ite militia called on Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi – a Shi’ite who has staked his credibility on efforts to reconcile with Sunnis – to shut a Saudi embassy that reopened only last month after decades of strained ties.
Saudi Arabia “must stop” its prolonged attempts to frustrate Iran’s efforts to reduce tensions in the Middle East and beyond, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday. Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced it was severing relations with Iran because of the assaults. Those attacks came after Saudi Arabia executed al-Nimr on January 2.
The service is being held in a village the kingdom’s predominantly Shiite eastern region. So what was on offer for the Saudi foreign minister were soothing phrases about Pakistan standing shoulder to shoulder with Saudi Arabia against any threat to its territorial integrity and sovereignty and little else.
Also on Thursday, 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”.
On Tuesday, the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, denounced Iran in an interview with CNBC, reciting a litany of crimes he said the Iranian government was responsible for, including, he said, the rise of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Advertisement
“Unfortunately, the concerns that we expressed to the Saudis have precipitated the kinds of consequences that we were concerned about”, Earnest said. “About my brother, we were hoping to end it in a political way rather than in blood”.
