Arab League condemns Iranian ‘meddling’

For his part, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in an opinion piece in The New York Times, stressed Iran’s determination to deal with the attackers.

Underlining that Saudi Arabia stands alone in its decision-making policies against the Islamic Republic, he said the country is not supported even by Arab countries, in a collective manner.

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.

“Saudi Arabia intends to leave a negative impact on Syria’s crisis through its escalating actions”, Zarif told the United Nations envoy who visited Tehran on Sunday to discuss the Syrian crisis with Iranian officials.

Other Arab countries followed suit and severed or reduced relations with Iran, a predominantly Shia state.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir denounced Iranian statements “hostile to Saudi Arabia” that he said had “directly driven the attacks” on Saudi diplomatic missions.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi accused Tehran of “provocative acts” as top Arab diplomats met for talks on Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic row with Iran.

In a closing statement distributed after the meeting, the Arab League also referred to the reported discovery by Bahrain of a militant group that it said was backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Al Nahyan, who heads the Arab ambassadors’ council, said the attack “took place under the nose and within the earshot of security forces”. “And so far it behaves like the latter”, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said following an emergency Arab League meeting in Cairo.

But after talks with Mr Zarif in Tehran yesterday and with Saudi officials in the past week, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura insisted the dispute would not damage his efforts.

“Iran doesn’t have qualms and doesn’t hesitate to using the sectarian card as a way to dominate the region, and interfering in the internal affairs of Arab countries”, Al Nahyan said at the opening ceremony.

“We put the responsibility for this attack on Iran, because of its violation of global law and the Geneva conventions relating to the protection of diplomatic bases”.

“Pakistan has also always expressed its readiness to offer its good offices to brotherly Muslim countries for resolution of their differences”.