In the latest salvo in a dispute that has seen Saudi Arabia and some of its Sunni Arab allies cut ties with Tehran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Riyadh must end its prolonged efforts to confront Iran.
Advertisement
The tiny Horn of Africa nation, which is home to the United States’ only military base on the African continent, joins Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan in entirely severing relations with ran. Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic ties with Iran in response to these attacks.
Wednesday’s remarks from Oman were its first over the ongoing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which began with the kingdom’s execution of Sheikh Nimr Al Nimr.
The protests occurred following the execution of a prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Riyadh on Saturday.
Yemen’s foreign ministry also denied the embassy building had been targeted, according to the Saudi-allied, government-run state news agency, sabanew.net. He said the coalition will investigate Iran’s accusation and added that the Houthis have used civilian facilities, including abandoned embassies.
Iran’s foreign minister expressed regret that the Saudi Arabia pursued the policy of tension while Iran is seeking peace; “our policy is to have coordination and cooperation with all neighbors showing respect for the Arab world as an important component of the Muslim world”.
He also referred to the recent events in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran; “as Iran’s FM Zarif explained, the Islamic Republic of Iran never meant to attack on the Saudi premise and has always sought peace”.
“We hope the situation in the Middle East can move in the direction of amelioration”, she said.
On Tuesday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani accused Saudi Arabia of focusing attention on the incident to “cover its crime” of executing Nimr.
Iran is a key ally of the Shia-led government in Baghdad, has helped it in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, and supports powerful Shia militias in the country.
Advertisement
“Abadi is caught between two fires: the Sunni hardliners and the Shi’ite hardliners”, said Mustafa Alani, the United Arab Emirates-based director of security and defence studies at the Gulf Research Centre, a Geneva-based think tank.
