Saudi jets ‘hit Iranian embassy in Yemen’

Iran accused Saudi Arabia on Thursday of an aerial attack on its embassy in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, escalating a conflict between the rivals that has put the region on edge, although witnesses said the building was not hit.

“It goes against worldwide law”, the semi-official IRIN news agency quoted Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari as saying on Thursday.

The Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen denied carrying out an attack and insisted the diplomatic mission was “safe”, but Tehran said it would take the matter to the UN Security Council. Saudi Arabia’s Sunni monarchy intervened in the war in March, aiming to defeat Shiite-led Yemeni rebels, known as the Houthis, which the Saudis view as a shadow force for Iran.

Although an Associated Press reporter in Sanaa said he saw no damage to the Iranian embassy there on Thursday, the provocation of a nearby strike was enough to prompt further retaliation from the Iranian government.

Iran has banned the import of goods from Saudi Arabia after the kingdom cut diplomatic ties over attacks on the Saudi embassy following the execution of a Shiite cleric. He was accused of “seeking foreign meddling” and taking up arms against Saudi Arabia. The centre was heavily damaged, forcing those using the facilities, the majority of whom live with severely impaired vision, to evacuate the building.

Longstanding frictions between the Middle East s foremost Sunni and Shia Muslim powers exploded into a full-blown diplomatic crisis at the weekend when Riyadh executed Shia cleric and activist Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 others.

While CNN reported that pilgrimages had been banned, Iran only reaffirmed an existing ban on the umrah, or “lesser pilgrimage”.

Zarif said that from the first days of President Hassan Rouhani’s election, both he and the president have sent public and private signals to Saudi Arabia “about our readiness to engage in dialogue and accommodation to promote regional stability and combat destabilizing extremist violence”.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Abdullah al-Moallem said that relations with Iran will be restored only when Tehran stops “interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, including that of Saudi Arabia’s”.

Saudi media said that the four Iranians set to stand trial in Saudi Arabia were arrested in 2013 and 2014, but they were not identified nor were the charges against them spelled out.

Iran’s annual exports to Saudi Arabia are worth about $130 million a year and are mainly steel, cement and agricultural products. Christians in Lebanon tend to have more favorable views of Saudi Arabia (54%) than Iran (29%).