World Islamic body backs Saudi stance in Iran spat

On Thursday, OIC foreign ministers held an extraordinary meeting on Iran in Saudi Arabia, condemning the aggression against the Saudi missions in Tehran and Mashhad earlier in January.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir, who spoke at the emergency OIC meeting, said the attack on the kingdom’s diplomatic missions was not an isolated incident, and that Tehran had done very little to end them. Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr resulted in a suspension of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which threatened to increase instability in a region already undergoing serious tumult.

Nimr was one of four put to death on January 2 alongside other 43 of Sunni sect. All were convicted of “terrorism”. But Riyadh fears it will further embolden Iran, which it accuses of interference in countries including Yemen and Syria, where Riyadh and Tehran support opposite sides in civil wars.

“Iran only issued some condemnatory statements while the host government’s responsibility is to take actions”, Saudi Press Agency SPA quoted Al Jubeir as saying. The two countries stressed the importance of continuation of development of traditional friendship between the two peoples and countries and enhancing of strong cooperation in political economic commercial cultural humanitarian military security and energy fields as well as at regional and worldwide arenas that will push Saudi-Chinese relations to higher levels.

The meeting underscored the importance of reinforcing relations of good neighborliness among the member states for the best interests of peoples, consistent with the OIC Charter.

Iran’s foreign minister says Saudi Arabia is “panicking” over the potential for reduced tensions between Tehran and the West, that he is happy for the families of Americans previously imprisoned in Iran, and that the U.S.is “addicted” to sanctions.

“I believe our Saudi neighbors should come to their senses and understand that they have a much better future in cooperation and collaboration with Iran”, Zarif said.

The arms were sold to Saudi at a time when the kingdom was heavily bombing Yemen, where Riyadh is leading an Arab coalition aimed at pushing back perceived Iran-backed Houthi rebels in order to reinstall the exiled government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

“The importance of this meeting is in the fact that this aggression is not the first but only a part of a series of continuous attacks that diplomatic missions have been subjected to in Iran for 35 years”, Jubeir said.

Riyadh sees the Houthis as a proxy for bitter regional rival Iran to expand its influence in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation.

“But Iran, rather than confronting the isolation it has created for itself, opts to obscure its unsafe sectarian and expansionist policies, as well as its support for terrorism, by leveling unsubstantiated charges against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, he added.