Iran to inform Security Council on Saudi ‘bombing’ of Yemen embassy

A Saudi Arabian investigation into Saudi air strikes on an Iranian Embassy in Yemen have concluded that Saudi Arabia did not conduct air strikes on the embassy.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region-Tehran accused Saudi Arabia on Thursday of bombing its embassy in the Yemeni capital Sana in a “deliberate and intentional act”, that wounded a number of embassy staff.

A coalition spokesman said the strikes had targeted rebel missile launchers, and that the rebels had used abandoned embassies for operations.

The nuclear deal struck last July between Iran and five other world powers was seen as a diplomatic triumph by its authors but it was vehemently opposed by the Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Since 2014, Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Shiite Houthi rebels, the country’s main opposition force.

The airstrike in Sanaa damaged the building and injured multiple embassy staff members, Iranian state media reported a foreign ministry spokesman as saying. The move came just one day after Saudi authorities executed a prominent Shia cleric.

Qatar on Thursday recalled its ambassador from Tehran, becoming the latest Gulf state to reduce its diplomatic presence there in response to the arson attack by protesters on the Saudi embassy on Saturday.

Accordingly, all entry points across the country including free trade zones and special economic zones will be ordered to stop any product or any item that has been originated in or produced by Saudi Arabia.

The statement also condemned remarks that directly accused President Erdoğan, and said the publications aimed to create a negative image of him in the eyes of Iranian people.

Residents and witnesses in the capital Sanaa said there was no damage to the embassy building in the district of Hadda. Annual imports from Saudi Arabia – mainly packing materials and textiles – total about $60 million a year.