Obama, Iraq’s leader work to contain Iran-Saudi fallout

The comments were made during a press conference in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on hand, during which al-Jaafari suggested that Iraq’s involvement could help “alleviate tensions”, the BBC reports.

He underscored that Riyadh would take a pragmatic approach to investing in Russian Federation. “The best thing that can happen to this country is to prevent people from spending their money in that fanatic Saudi Arabia”, said Siamak, a 39-year-old engineer.

But while many in Iran were critical of the Saudi government’s execution of dissident Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday – even though few had heard of him – they were equally frustrated at the reaction of their own hardliners, who ransacked the Saudi embassy over the weekend.

The execution of activist Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others sparked protests across the world, including an attack on the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran.

The diplomatic crisis surrounding Saudi Arabia and Iran widened today as Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Tehran and Bahrain severed air links in the face of growing worldwide concern.

“We are striving to seek a peaceful solution with all foreign ministers”. Mohammed al-Nimr, the sheik’s brother, said people planned to hold a funeral Thursday, though Saudi authorities had already buried his corpse in an undisclosed cemetery.

Earlier on Wednesday Djibouti cut ties with Iran and Jordan summoned Iran’s envoy in Amman to condemn Sunday’s attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran by protesters angered at the execution of cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Sudan and the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain said on Monday they would sever ties with Iran.

The staff of the Iranian embassy in Riyadh and those of the consulate in Jeddah left “on board a private Iranian plane”, state news agency SPA reported. Al-Nimr was a staunch critic of the Saudi government and demanded greater rights for the kingdom’s Shiite population, but always denied advocating violence.

“Saudi Arabia is a massive state in an area surrounded by conflicts”.

Brushing aside the Iranian apology, Saudi Arabia’s UN Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi tied the normalization of his country’s relations with Iran to the latter’s future conduct.

At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Rouhani also accused the Saudis of providing money and weapons to “terrorists”, carrying out airstrikes in Yemen, and obstructing “the victory of Iraqi and Syrian governments”, the release said.

Iran gave no immediate details on its claim, which was carried by state-run media.

“It’s important to work through that tension, work through those disagreements, so that we can all work harder together on other issues which are affecting the Middle East writ large”, he said.