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Saudi Arabia tightens security at Iraqi embassy as tensions rise

“Djibouti cut its diplomatic ties with Iran out of solidarity with Saudi Arabia”, Djiboutian Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said on Wednesday.

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He went on to say Iranian officials harassed Saudi officials from the time they wanted to leave Tehran following the attack on its premises.

He said the National Assembly would be given an in-camera briefing on the Saudi-Iran tensions.

Baghdad will be a mediator in the resolution of the diplomatic crisis between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said, RIA Novosti reported. Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced it was severing relations with Iran because of the assaults.

“This trend of creating tension must stop”.

The United Nations and the US called for an end to the diplomatic ructions, with US Secretary of State John Kerry’s office issuing a statement, “stressing the need for dialogue and engagement”. Now that Obama has emboldened Iran by giving it billions of dollars and dropping sanctions, Saudi Arabia must ensure its own peace. Kuwait yesterday recalled its ambassador to Iran, but stopped short of expelling the Iranian envoy and did not downgrade its relations with Tehran.

But Kazem Jalali, a prominent Iranian lawmaker, criticized the actions of the protesters as, in the words of the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, “wrong and impulsive”. Protesters in Tehran responded by attacking the Saudi embassy.

Analysts had feared the dispute could boil over into the proxy wars between the two Mid East rivals in Yemen and in Syria.

“He is urging calm”. Iran is a chief backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Saudi Arabia supports anti-Assad rebel factions.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani said Saudi Arabia along with the Israeli regime did their best from the very beginning of Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the world powers to undermine the talks, adding that they continue their “plot” to hamper the implementation of the agreement, but they will finally fail.

Officials have never said how Nimr was put to death, but beheading by the sword is common in the conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom. He is also expected in Iran later this week and in Damascus on Saturday, UN sources said.

Russian Federation has offered its mediation to help resolve the conflict.

Shiite-majority Iraq has close ties with Tehran.

The militant group, which has claimed responsibility for attacks in the kingdom and stepped up operations in neighbouring Yemen, singled out the al-Ha’ir and Tarfiya prisons where many al-Qaeda and Islamic State supporters have been detained.

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The claim, carried on Iranian state-run media, could not be independently verified.

Brent crude oil has fallen below $35 a barrel for the first time in more than 10 years amid continuing concerns about oversupply in the market