Saudis vow to boycott football activities in Iran

The GCC “forcefully condemns the attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran”, said a statement, referring to the sacking of Riyadh’s embassy and consulate by demonstrators angered over its execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and dissident. “If it is a nation state, it should act like one”.

The GCC Ministerial Council expressed its full support for the measures taken by Saudi Arabia to face terrorist attacks on its diplomatic missions in Iran, stressing that the GCC countries will take further appropriate measures to address these attacks.

Iran denounced those attacks, but the repercussions quickly rippled across the region and beyond with Saudi allies Bahrain, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan following Riyadh’s example and cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran.

The Sunni-ruled Bahrain, which sided with Saudi Arabia in the kingdom’s spat with Iran that erupted after al-Nimr’s execution, has cut diplomatic ties with Tehran.

The Defence Minister of Saudi Arabia defended his country’s military operations in Yemen and said he did not believe the kingdom’s tensions with Iran would escalate into a war, according to an interview with The Economist. Lebabon with mix of Shia-Sunni-Christian population, 48 per cent show favourable view to Saudi Arabia whereas 41 per cent supports Iran.

Some carried placards with the picture of Nimr al-Nimr, the Shia cleric and activist executed in Saudi Arabia last week.

Relations between the longtime adversaries hit a fresh low on Thursday as Iran accused Saudi warplanes of deliberately targeting its embassy in Sanaa in raids that it said had damaged the property and wounded staff members.

The ministry says it has recalled its acting ambassador to Iran and ordered Iranian diplomats to leave Somalia within 72 hours. Saudi officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Iran has offered support to the Houthis, but denies actively supporting their war effort. On Friday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said that a man complained of being kidnapped at gunpoint by a gang and beaten in eastern Saudi Arabia. However, an Associated Press reporter who reached the site just after the announcement saw no damage to the building, which sits in a neighborhood near a presidential palace that’s seen many previous strikes.

In recent months, however, the United States has played a key role in bringing both Iran and Saudi Arabia to the table at peace talks created to bring about an end to the Syrian Civil War.

Bahraini police clashed on Friday with demonstrators who were protesting against the execution of a top Shi’ite cleric in neighboring Saudi Arabia, witnesses said.