Anti-Saudi protests in Iran as row worsens

AFP, TEHRAN: Anti-Saudi protests were held in Iran on Friday against Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and after Tehran accused its regional rival of bombing its Yemen embassy. A week-long diplomatic crisis between the Middle East’s leading Sunni and Shiite Muslim powers has raised fears of heightened sectarian tensions across the region. Around 1,000 protestors marched through Tehran on Friday chanting “death to Al-Saud”—Riyadh’s ruling family, according to an AFP photographer.
Others shouted “death to America” and “death to Israel”, frequent rallying cries at demonstrations in Iran. Some carried placards with the picture of Nimr al-Nimr, the Shiite cleric and activist executed in Saudi Arabia last week, whose death unleashed a wave of anger across the Shiite world. Relations between the longtime adversaries hit a fresh low on Thursday as Iran accused Saudi warplanes of deliberately targeting its embassy in Sanaa in raids that it said had damaged the property and wounded staff members. “During an air raid by Saudi Arabia against Sanaa, a rocket fell near our embassy and unfortunately one of our guards was seriously wounded,” deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was quoted as saying by the IRNA state news agency. “We will inform the Security Council of the details of this attack within several hours,” he said, adding that “Saudi Arabia is responsible for the security of our diplomats and of our embassy in Sanaa”. The Saudi-led coalition that has been bombing Iran-backed rebels in Yemen since March denied the claims, saying that Tehran’s embassy in the rebel-controlled capital was “safe and has not been damaged”.

Anti-Saudi protests in Iran as row worsens

AFP, TEHRAN: Anti-Saudi protests were held in Iran on Friday against Riyadhs execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and after Tehran accused its regional rival of bombing its Yemen embassy. A week-long diplomatic crisis between the Middle Easts leading Sunni and Shiite Muslim powers has raised fears of heightened sectarian tensions across the region. Around 1,000 protestors marched through Tehran on Friday chanting death to Al-SaudRiyadhs ruling family, according to an AFP photographer. Others shouted death to America and death to Israel, frequent rallying cries at demonstrations in Iran. Some carried placards with the picture of Nimr al-Nimr, the Shiite cleric and activist executed in Saudi Arabia last week, whose death unleashed a wave of anger across the Shiite world. Relations between the longtime adversaries hit a fresh low on Thursday as Iran accused Saudi warplanes of deliberately targeting its embassy in Sanaa in raids that it said had damaged the property and wounded staff members. During an air raid by Saudi Arabia against Sanaa, a rocket fell near our embassy and unfortunately one of our guards was seriously wounded, deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was quoted as saying by the IRNA state news agency. We will inform the Security Council of the details of this attack within several hours, he said, adding that Saudi Arabia is responsible for the security of our diplomats and of our embassy in Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition that has been bombing Iran-backed rebels in Yemen since March denied the claims, saying that Tehrans embassy in the rebel-controlled capital was safe and has not been damaged.