Khamenei praises arrest of US sailors, condemns Saudi embassy attack

In the early hours of January 3, angry demonstrators attacked Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran in protest at Riyadh’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayotullah Ali Khamenei has condemned the vigilantes’ attack on Saudi mission in Iran, saying the incident severely damaged the image of Islam and the Islamic Republic.

Hard-line protesters responded in Tehran by storming the Saudi Embassy, setting fires there and throwing papers on the roof.

The attack was followed by a mob taking selfies and smartphone video footage of themselves holding items stolen from inside the building, causing deep embarrassment in Tehran.

In the weeks since tensions have only risen between Iran, the region’s main Shiite Muslim power and Saudi Arabia, its Sunni rival, with each accusing the other of damaging the Middle East.

“This move by our dear youth”.

United States and Iranian officials scrambled to defuse the situation, which had raised alarm in Washington, but after informal talks with Tehran, the Guards said the 10 sailors had been set free. “What they did in the Persian Gulf was right”, Khamenei also said.

Meanwhile in an AP interview, Iran’s foreign minister decried what he called the United States’ “addiction to coercion” with its new sanctions against Iran over ballistic missile tests.

“I reiterate the need to be vigilant about the deceit and treachery of arrogant countries, especially the United States, in this [nuclear] issue and other issues”, Khamenei said, according to Iranian news agencies.

The United States on Sunday imposed sanctions against 11 individuals and entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program as a result of Tehran’s firing of a medium-range ballistic missile.