Iran says Saudi Arabia looking for an excuse to fuel tensions

Statement came after the kingdom gave Iranian diplomats 24 hours to leave the country

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia used an attack on its embassy in Tehran as a pretext to fuel tensions, Iran's foreign ministry said on Monday in response to Riyadh's severing of relations, adding that Tehran was committed to protecting foreign diplomatic missions.

Iranian protesters had stormed the Saudi embassy in the early hours of Sunday after Saudi Arabia executed a Shia cleric, prompting Riyadh to withdraw its diplomatic staff and order Iranian diplomats to leave the kingdom.



"Iran... is committed to provide diplomatic security based on international conventions. But Saudi Arabia, which thrives on tensions, has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions," ministry spokeseperson Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in televised remarks.

Foreign Minister Adel al Jubeir announced Sunday that Saudi Arabia was severing diplomatic ties with Iran after demonstrators stormed its Tehran embassy to protest against Riyadh’s execution of a Shia cleric.

Jubeir also said that all Iranian diplomats must leave Saudi Arabia within 48 hours.



Saudi Arabia “is breaking off diplomatic ties with Iran and requests that all members of the Iranian diplomatic mission leave… within 48 hours,” he told a news conference.