The latest developments after Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Tehran amid a dispute over Riyadh’s execution of an opposition Shiite cleric and attacks on Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran.
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Iran accused Saudi Arabia on Thursday of attacking its embassy in war-torn Yemen’s capital city, highlighting the risk of escalation as the Muslim world’s two most ardent foes face off in a proxy war in Yemen.
“Saudi Arabia is responsible for the damage to the embassy building and the injury to some of its staff”, Iran’s foreign-ministry spokesman, Hossein Jaber Ansari, reportedly said on the state television network, adding that the damage was “deliberate and intentional”.
The Saudi-led coalition denied targeting the embassy and has promised to investigate the incident, though that’s unlikely to satisfy leaders or the public in Iran.
Yemen’s civil war has been raging now for more than a year; the Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia oppose the Tehran-backed Houthis, who are Shia as is Iran.
Those assaults came after Saudi Arabia executed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric, on January 2.
Speaking alongside Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Mr al-Jaafari said Iraq’s place in the heart of the Middle East allows it to play a role in trying to “alleviate tensions”.
Gulf officials have spoken instead of possible Iranian attempts to fuel instability in the region by attacking Saudi and Arab interests.
Saudi Arabia and its allies say al-Nimr was found guilty of terrorism charges, and that condemnations of the execution amount to meddling in Riyadh’s internal affairs.
The move comes after Saudi Arabia cut all diplomatic ties with Iran following an attack on its embassy in Tehran.
Dujarric said that Ban was “deeply concerned about the intensification of coalition airstrikes and ground fighting and shelling in Yemen, despite repeated calls for a renewed cessation of hostilities”.
“The escalation is coming from Iran, not from Saudi Arabia or the GCC…”
Yemeni blind and disabled people shout slogans during a demonstration to protest after a centre for the blind was reportedly destroyed by Saudi-led air strikes.
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The coalition officially ended a truce for Yemen on Saturday due to what the Saudis said were violations of the ceasefire by Iran-allied Houthi rebels.
