Saudi spoiling Iran’s peace efforts: Mohammad Javad Zarif

“For the past two-and-a-half years, Saudi Arabia has opposed Iran’s diplomacy,” Zarif said at a joint press conference in Tehran with visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. “Saudi Arabia has moved against our efforts and they opposed the nuclear agreement,  Zarif said, referring to Iran’s deal last year with world powers over its atomic programme. 

“This trend of creating tension must stop,” Zarif said of Saudi Arabia, which cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday following an arson attack at the kingdom’s Tehran embassy the day before. That incident followed anger in Iran, Iraq and other countries after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, on Saturday. 

“We have never sought to create tension. We have always adopted a policy of interaction and dialogue,” Zarif said, reiterating that the Iranian government had condemned Saturday’s embassy attack as “not at all justified”. “All Iranian officials condemn it,” he added. 

The nuclear deal struck last July between Iran and five other world powers was seen as a diplomatic triumph by its authors but it was vehemently opposed by Israel. Saudi Arabia fears the nuclear deal will empower Iran. 

As the region’s dominant Sunni and Shiite Muslim powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran have a difficult history. Shiite-majority Iraq’s government has close ties with Tehran. Reports said Jaafari was making efforts to advance dialogue and diplomacy so that the region could “pass its current challenge”.