Iraq offers to mediate in Saudi Arabia-Iran row

Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have spiralled since the execution of a Shi’ite cleric in Saudi Arabia.

The state news agency BNA reported: “A secret terrorist plot aided by the so-called Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Hezbollah terrorist organisation was foiled”.

But it is certain to add fuel to the most serious fallout between the two nations in decades.

However Mr Rouhani had earlier, in common with Iran’s judiciary, criticised mob attacks on Saudi diplomatic premises in Iran, calling them illegal.

Local residents of Sanaa said that there were dozens of airstrikes Thursday morning by the Saudi-led coalition, which is fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the BBC reported.

Jordan, meanwhile, summoned the Iranian ambassador to Amman to condemn the attacks.

Protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran after Saudi Arabia executed a senior shia muslim cleric, with Saudi Arabia then ending its diplomatic relations with Iran.

In Washington, as the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia heats up, the Obama administration is trying to straddle the fence and not take sides, but its actions tell a different story – they all seem to favour Tehran.

An Associated Press reporter in Yemen’s capital says he sees no damage at the Iranian Embassy after the Islamic Republic said it was hit in an overnight Saudi-led strike.

Hours after the execution, protesters in Shiite-majority Iran attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, leading Saudi Arabia to cut diplomatic relations with Iran on Sunday.

That prompted Saudi Arabia to cut diplomatic ties with Iran and the kingdom’s allies lined up behind it, either cutting or reducing their relations with Tehran.

‘The cabinet has banned the entry of all Saudi products and products from Saudi Arabia, ‘ a government statement said. State media in Iran showed still photographs it said were of the diplomats arriving in Tehran on a Meraj Airlines jet.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has made repeated calls for calm to both Iranian and Saudi leaders.

Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia intensified recently after the Saudis executed Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shiite cleric and anti-government critic, along with 46 others accused of terrorism.