Iran’s Deputy FM in Saudi’s Jeddah for OIC Meeting
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi left Tehran on Tuesday for Saudi port city of Jeddah to attend an emergency ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The meeting will reportedly be convened to discuss the recent diplomatic row between Tehran and Riyadh.
Foreign ministers and representatives from 40 member states of the organization are expected to attend the meeting on Thursday.
It added that OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani received a letter from Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir, in which he had called for the emergency meeting.
Tensions ran high between Iran and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks mainly due to Riyadh’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, and a subsequent attack by outraged Iranian protesters on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, which resulted in the Arab country’s decision to sever its ties with the Islamic Republic.
On January 2, Saudi Arabia announced that it has executed Sheikh Nimr, among dozens of others. The execution ignited widespread international condemnation, from both political and religious figures.
The next day, furious demonstrators in the Iranian cities of Tehran and Mashhad stormed Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic buildings in protest at the execution of Sheikh Nimr.
Although Iranian officials criticized the embassy attack and police arrested dozens involved, Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic.