Iran seeks to limit diplomatic fall-out from Saudi embassy attacks

Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told the gathering that Iran’s attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran after the execution of al-Nimr was the latest incident in decades of aggression.

“Saudi Arabia’s approach is to create tension meant to negatively affect the Syrian crisis”, he said in a Foreign Ministry statement.

Saudi Arabia announced two weeks ago it had killed Nimr al-Nimr, who was charged with terrorism offences for allegations he incited anti-government sentiment during the 2011 Arab Spring.

Zarif, writing Sunday in The New York Times, said Saudi Arabia has been responsible for increasing confrontation in the region out of fear that Iran’s normalizing ties with the rest of the world would expose Riyadh’s “active sponsorship of violent extremism”.

In separate statements on its website on Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry said Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming met senior Saudi and Iranian officials on his trip. “With regards to mediation, there are some states that have expressed their readiness to conduct this, but the important thing is seriousness with regards to the Iranian position”, he said.

“The Kingdom is looking at additional measures to be taken, if Iran continues with its belligerent policies”, added Al-Jubeir.

Iranian demonstrators protesting against the execution of the cleric, broke into the Saudi embassy building, smashed furniture and started fires before being ejected by police.

Protesters in Tehran stormed the Saudi Embassy and a Saudi consulate elsewhere in the country after Saudi Arabia executed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shiite cleric and opposition leader, earlier this month.

“The Saudi foreign minister assured me that there would be no impact from their point of view….”

Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran the next day and was followed by a number of its Sunni Arab allies including Bahrain and Sudan.

“Iran is a safe country and if the Saudi Arabian football officials don’t agree with it, (they) must give evidence”, Kafashian was quoted as saying by the Tehran Times. Zarif then went on, however, to cite examples of what he said was the targeting by the Saudis “and their surrogates” of Iranian diplomatic offices in Yemen, Lebanon and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, experts say the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia has become progressively worse amid Riyadh’s growing global isolation and increasing domestic instability.