Iran says Saudi strike hits embassy in Yemen; no damage seen

Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran this week after an Iranian mob attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran Jan. 2 to protest the execution of a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric. “It goes against worldwide law”, the semi-official IRIN news agency quoted Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari as saying on Thursday. However, an Associated Press reporter who reached the site just after the announcement saw no visible damage at the building.

Somalia joins Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Bahrain in cutting ties to Iran amid the crisis. Those attacks came after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent opposition Shiite cleric over the weekend.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming was now in Saudi Arabia and would travel on to Iran, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing. Although al-Nimr was a Saudi, protesters in Shiite Iran responded by attacking Saudi diplomatic facilities in their country.

Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, is now held by Iranian-supported Houthi rebels, while Saudi Arabia supports the country’s internationally recognized government.

Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

In eastern Saudi Arabia, the home of al-Nimr and much of the kingdom’s roughly 10 to 15 percent Shiite population, three days of mourning over his death ended Wednesday night.

The local resident, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity out of fear for her safety, shared a mobile phone video showing Saudi armored personnel carriers traveling through local streets.

At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Rouhani also accused the Saudis of providing money and weapons to “terrorists”, carrying out airstrikes in Yemen, and obstructing “the victory of Iraqi and Syrian governments”, the release said.

Tehran announced Thursday it was banning imports of goods from Saudi Arabia in response to the incident.

“Cordial relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are beneficial to the whole region”, Jaafari said, and Iraq can not remain silent in the face of such a rift.

Oil prices have fallen by around 2% as political tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran clouded the prospect of an agreement to cut output amid a global oversupply. Annual imports from Saudi Arabia – mainly packing materials and textiles – total about $60 million a year.

A worker stands at a beverages factory after it was hit by a Saudi-led air strike in Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Houdieda.