Iran Blames Saudi Arabia After Jets ‘Bomb Embassy’ in Yemen

Warplanes struck the building as they pounded Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Wednesday night, Iran claimed, as tensions with Saudi Arabia continued to mount.

“Saudi Arabia is responsible for this action, as well as for compensating Iran for injuries to the embassy personnel and the damages to the embassy building”, Ansari said on Thursday, according to the state-run IRIB News agency.

He said the coalition had asked all countries to supply it with co-ordinates for the locations of their diplomatic missions.

He said the coalition would investigate Iran’s accusation and added that the Houthis has used civilian facilities including abandoned embassies.

Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 individuals on terrorism charges, including Shiite cleric Namir al-Namir, a member of the Saudi Shiite community, caused angry protests in Iran and an attack on the Saudi diplomatic mission in Tehran.

Iran accused the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen of deliberately bombing its embassy and injuring staff, worsening already-strained tensions between the rival powers.

The Associated Press reported that an AP correspondent in Sanaa could see no damage to the embassy.

“A war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the beginning of a major catastrophe in the region, and it will reflect very strongly on the rest of the world”.

Since 2014, Yemen has been in a state of military conflict, between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels.

Anger in both countries is running high after the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric by Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

On Tuesday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Riyadh can not hide the “crime” of killing a religious cleric by severing diplomatic ties with Tehran.

Pro-Iranian Pakistani Shiite Muslims rally against Saudi Arabia to condemn the execution of Shiite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Iran announced on Thursday that it had imposed a total ban on imports on any product which was originated in Saudi Arabia until a further notice.