Arab diplomats meet to back S. Arabia in row with Iran

Earlier, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al Jubeir said that his country would talk about taking further actions against Iran with its regional and global allies if it had to.

Chinese ally Russian Federation has also indicated it is ready to invite the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers to Moscow for negotiations.

Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have lately exacerbated after the latter executed a prominent Shia cleric on terror charges, causing widespread condemnation.

The adviser said Pakistan wishes for peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict and supports all efforts for resumption of dialogue.

A source said that the Saudi defence minister is expected to conclude a military co-operation arrangement during the trip, which the two sides have been negotiating recently.

Iran has blamed Saudi Arabia for the diplomatic crisis and accused the kingdom of “sectarian hate-mongering”.

The tension between Iran and Saud Arabia rose this month when Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after protesters torched two of its diplomatic buildings in Tehran and Mashhad.

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.

Iran also backs the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country’s civil war while Saudi Arabia insists he must go for any legitimate peace process to take place. He predicted that not all Arab nations will follow Riyadh’s lead.

“Most are trying to appease Saudi and maintain minimal relations with Iran to prevent further escalation”, said Lina Khatib, former director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut.

The diplomatic row erupted following Saudi Arabia’s execution on January 2 of 47 people convicted of plotting and carrying out terrorist attacks.

“After Iran signed the nuclear deal with world powers last year, some countries, especially some European countries, have shown great interests to Iran, which is full of development opportunities after being sanctioned for years”. However, shortly after his meeting with Zarif, he said the Geneva talks on Syria, scheduled for January 25 can still “start in the right atmosphere”.

“We are in Sanaa to exert more efforts with all parties concerned to (convince them to) hold a new round of talks”, the rebel-controlled sabanews.net website quoted the envoy as saying upon his arrival in the capital.