Iran diplomats leave missions in Saudi Arabia

STATE MEDIA IN IRAN SHOWED IMAGES OF THE DIPLOMATS ARRIVING IN TEHRAN

Iranian diplomats have left Saudi Arabia after the kingdom severed all ties with Tehran following attacks on its mission in the Islamic republic, Saudi state media said yesterday.

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.

Iran’s official state broadcaster IRIB said the diplomats arrived in Tehran, showing pictures of their plane after it landed at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport.

It said the plane carried 54 Iranian diplomats and their families. Saudi diplomats in Iran returned to the kingdom on Tuesday, Saudi media reported.

Riyadh severed diplomatic ties and air links with Tehran after angry crowds set fire to its embassy in the Iranian capital and its consulate in Mashad.

Driving force

The weekend protests were in response to Riyadh’s execution of leading Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests in 2011.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday refused to condemn Saudi Arabia for its execution of 47 convicts including the cleric, saying it was an “internal legal matter” of the kingdom.

“The executions in Saudi Arabia are an internal legal matter. Whether you approve or not of the decision is a separate issue,” Erdogan, who last month visited Riyadh in a new sign of Ankara’s warm ties with the kingdom, said in a televised speech in his first reaction to the controversy.

The Yemeni foreign ministry on Tuesday stressed that Yemen severed its relations with Iran in October last year in protest of Iran’s “blatant interference” in the country’s internal affairs.

In a statement, the ministry said on October 2, 2015, Yemen had expelled the Iranian ambassador from Aden and recalled its charge d’affaires from Tehran.

It said the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashad represent a continuation of Iran’s aggressive policy towards Arabs.

The ministry’s statement condemned Iran’s interference in Yemen’s internal affairs and said Iran seeks to undermine Yemen’s security and stability by supporting the Al Houthi militia and forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Iran, the statement noted, has been supporting the Al Houthi militia with training, arms and planning for the coup in collaboration with Saleh.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to condemn Saudi Arabia for its execution of 47 convicts.