Mohammad Bagher Nobakht was speaking after Riyadh cut ties to protest the attack on its embassy and a consulate by Iranian demonstrators angered over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia.
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He added that, “undoubtedly, such actions can’t cover up that big crime”.
The Saudi authorities should have not responded to the criticisms of al-Nimr by beheading him, Rouhani said in a meeting with visiting Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen.
Instead, “it is Saudi Arabia that will suffer”, Nobakht said. It’s not clear whether al-Nimr was beheaded with a sword, though Saudis routinely use that form of execution. It has said it will only restore them when Tehran stops meddling in the affairs of other countries. Close allies Bahrain and Sudan followed suit, while the United Arab Emirates downgraded relations and Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Tehran in a diplomatic crisis that could deepen sectarian tension in the war-torn Arab world.
Tiny Kuwait is home to both Shiites and Sunnis living in peace and has the most free-wheeling political system among all Gulf nations.
They also cast doubts over chances for a peaceful solution in Yemen, where a Saudi-led military coalition has been bombing the Iran-allied Houthi movement for nine months.
Iranian officials of all stripes condemned the attacks, and over 40 people have been arrested in connection with them. The council statement, agreed to after hours of negotiations, made no mention of the Saudi executions or the rupture in Saudi-Iranian relations.
“This is a reaction to their failures in Iraq, Syria, and…”
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The deterioration of relations with Saudi Arabia “will have no impact on Iran’s national development”, Nobakht said, without elaborating. De Mistura has set a January 25 target date for a fourth round of talks.
