Earlier on Wednesday Djibouti cut ties with Iran and Jordan summoned Iran’s envoy in Amman to condemn Sunday’s attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran by protesters angered at the execution of cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
Advertisement
“Further deepening of strategic relations with the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries would serve Canadian commercial and possibly security interests”, the memo states, pointing to Saudi Arabia as the leading player in the six-country bloc that includes the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
Meanwhile, tribal officials in the Houthi stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia, say rebels have been launching rockets into Saudi Arabia.
“It certainly is going to be even more hard to get everybody back around the table if you have the Saudis and the Iranians trading public barbs and public expressions of antagonism between the two countries”, he said.
“For the past two-and-a-half years, Saudi Arabia has opposed Iran’s diplomacy”, Mr Zarif said.
It said the plane carried 54 Iranian diplomats and their families, who were welcomed by one of Iran’s deputy foreign ministers.
Somalia joins Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Bahrain in cutting ties to Iran amid the crisis.
Iran has banned the import of goods from Saudi Arabia after the kingdom cut diplomatic ties over attacks on the Saudi embassy following the execution of a Shiite cleric.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, has already denounced Saudi Arabia’s sectarian policies, saying the execution of Nimr “is in line with sectarian policies”.
The neighborhood in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, has been struck before as it is home to several strategic sites.
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.
“The escalation is coming from Iran, not from Saudi Arabia or the GCC…”
Advertisement
In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the United States has received conflicting reports about the Iranian Embassy in Sanaa and was still collecting information to determine what, if anything, happened to the building. Annual imports from Saudi Arabia – mainly packing materials and textiles – total about $60 million a year.
