Iran’s Zarif says Saudi must choose: extremism or engagement

Speaking at a news conference after an Arab League meeting, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al Jubeir said his country would discuss any potential further actions against Iran with its regional and global allies but gave no details on what those measures might involve.

The statement criticized “Iranian interference” in Saudi Arabia’s affairs over its denunciation of Nimr’s execution a week ago, adding that Tehran’s criticism had “directly incited the aggressions targeting Saudi diplomatic missions”.

Iran and Saudi relations deteriorated sharply in recent days after the execution of prominent Shiite cleric and dissident Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by Riyadh last week.

“(The) country will take additional steps if Iran went ahead with its hostilities and violations against the kingdom”, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted Al-Jubeir as saying.

At the time, the Pakistanis said they were overstretched at home, and unwilling to pick sides between a “brotherly” Saudi Arabia and a “neighborly” Iran.

Meanwhile, in the Sunni nation of Pakistan, the chief of the army announced that any threat to the territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia would provoke a sharp response from Pakistan.

It includes Iran, Syria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia – all now at war with each other in proxy forms.

“But they (Riyadh) insisted on offering the blood of the good Mujahideen as a sacrifice for the Crusaders on their holiday, in the New Year”, the two groups said in the statement posted on social media”.

Smoke rises as Iranian protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. “It strongly condemned these acts and stated that Iran carries the responsibility for these terrorist acts”, said GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani following a meeting in Riyadh of the foreign ministers.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claims Saudi Arabia is using the row to hurt peace talks on Syria.

On Wednesday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani asked the country’s judiciary to urgently prosecute the people who attacked the Saudi missions.

He also warned Iran risked being rejected by all the Arab countries of the region.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are the largest and fifth-biggest oil producers in OPEC, respectively.