Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia may take further measures against Iran after cutting ties with its regional rival this week, the Saudi foreign minister said on Saturday.
Adel Al Jubeir’s comments came in a press conference after an extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), convened to discuss tensions with Iran after attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions there.
“We are looking at additional measures to be taken if it (Iran) continues with its current policies,” Al Jubeir said, without elaborating on what these measures could be.
The crisis between Saudi Arabia and Iran, started when angry mobs ransacked Saudi missions in Iran after Riyadh’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr on Jan. 2.
Riyadh severed ties with Tehran and Tehran cut all commercial ties with Riyadh, and banned pilgrims from travelling to Makkah.
“The escalation is coming from Iran, not from Saudi Arabia or the GCC .... We are evaluating Iran’s moves and taking steps to counter them..things will be clearer in the near future,” Al Jubeir said.
After the meeting the GCC, which comprises Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, condemned what they said was Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Saudi Arabia and the region.
Al Jubeir also said his country had asked the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, of which Iran is a member, to convene an extraordinary meeting to discuss the aggression against its embassy.
Iran has said the kingdom is to blame for the diplomatic crisis.
In a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon published by Iranian news agencies earlier on Saturday, Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif complained about Saudi Arabia’s “provocations” towards Tehran.
Kuwait and the UAE last week recalled their ambassadors to Tehran in solidarity with the kingdom while Bahrain and Sudan joined Saudi Arabia in severing diplomatic ties with Iran. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia also banned
flights to and from Iran.The United Nations Security Council has also condemned the Iranian attacks on the Saudi missions.
Among the worries is whether the impasse could set back attempts at finding a political formula to ease the civil war in Syria, where Iran backs the government of Bashar Al Assad and Saudi Arabia is on the opposite side as a major supporter of anti-Al Assad factions. The diplomatic feud also could become an unwelcome distraction for Washington and its Western allies in the battle
against Daesh in Syria and Iraq. The Obama administration said it hoped Tehran and Riyadh would scale back the hostile rhetoric that has fuelled the worst crisis between the regional
rivals in decades.
