Turkey slams Iranian reports linking Erdogan to execution

But the kingdom’s ultra conservative Wahhabi clergy, which views Shi’ites as heretical, is a cornerstone of Saudi ruling legitimacy.

Iranian and Turkish demonstrators hold pictures of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as they protest outside the Saudi Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, following Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 prisoners in one day.

At a press conference in the capital, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Riyadh must end prolonged efforts to confront Iran.

They also chanted “Down with America” and “Death to Israel”, traditional Iranian slogans at protests.

“This trend of creating tension must stop”.

The spike in tensions comes after Iran previous year secured a historic nuclear deal with world powers led by the United States, causing major concern in long-time U.S. ally Riyadh.

“There is absolutely no link between this fabricated scenario and the Islamic Republic of Iran”, Abdollahian said. A situation should be avoided in which Iran, which supports the administration of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Saudi Arabia, which demands Assad’s resignation, intensify their invective, with the result that the negotiations merely spin around in circles.

“We strongly condemn the linking of our president’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia to the executions in the country in stories published on media outlets linked to Iranian official bodies”, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Qais al-Khazali, the head of the powerful Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, gave a speech in the southern city of Basra in which he called on Baghdad to cut diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, expel the newly arrived ambassador and boycott Saudi goods.

“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”.

And in Yemen, Riyadh is leading a military intervention against Iran-backed Shiite rebels who have seized control of large parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s eastern Shiite heartland prepared to hold a service Thursday night to honor the executed Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr.

About 2,000 members and supporters of powerful Iraqi Shiite militias demonstrated in Baghdad Wednesday against Nimr’s execution. Among those is Bahrain, which said Wednesday it had broken up a Shiite militant group backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.