Masked men attack Saudi intelligence compound with firebombs

Later, Riyadh cut its diplomatic ties with Tehran over the attack on its embassy, while many of Gulf partners either followed suit or downgraded their relations with the Islamic Republic.

Speaking during an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League foreign affairs ministerial council, Bouaida said Morocco rejects any sectarian or communal rhetoric logic that is used as a pretext “to interfere in the internal affairs of countries”.

Pakistan, he said, had brotherly relations with both countries and the government should adopt a policy on the matter after taking the Parliament into confidence.

While in Saudi, Zhang talked about the situation between Saudi Arabia and Iran and “hopes the relevant parties maintain calm and exercise restraint, step up dialogue and consultations and jointly promote an amelioration of the situation”, the ministry said.

Erdogan also criticized the use of death penalty in Iran.

Iran’s judiciary chief slammed Saudi Arabi on Monday for its hostile policies towards Tehran claiming that Saudi policies are serving the interests of the United States and Israel by harming the Muslim world, according to a report by Fars News.

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Shi’ite, Iran-allied Houthi movement in Yemen since March 2015. In a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday Zarif said that Saudi Arabia was directly provoking his country and looking for ways to drag the entire region into sectrarian conflict. Protesters upset over the execution of a Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia set fires to the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hossein Jaber Ansari said that Iran is seeking to soothe tensions in the region including its frictions with Saudi Arabia, as quoted by the official IRNA news agency on Sunday.

The diplomatic row erupted following Saudi Arabia s execution on January 2 of a prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, along with 46 others on terrorism charges.

The Iranian foreign minister said in his letter. “Moreover, for days, Saudi authorities refused to respond to requests from grieving families [of the stampede] and the Iranian government to access and repatriate the bodies”.

When asked if Pakistan would provide troops to the coalition efforts, the official said details were being worked out, however, Pakistan’s role would remain restricted to intelligence-sharing, counter-terrorism training and other activities in the coalition.