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Hossein Amir Abdollahian

Saudia cutting ties will not distract from ‘big mistake’ of cleric execution: Iran deputy FM

TEHRAN: Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut ties with Iran after attacks on the kingdom’s diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic will not distract from Riyadh’s “big mistake” of executing top Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Iranian deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Monday.

 

 

“By deciding to sever (diplomatic) relations, Saudi Arabia cannot make (the world) forget its big mistake of executing a cleric,” Abdollahian said, according to the IRNA agency.

 

 

He added that Saudi Arabia had committed a “strategic error in adopting rash and hasty decisions that have spread instability and caused the development of terrorism in the region”.

 

 

Riyadh’s execution of Nimr al-Nimr sparked widespread protests across Shia-majority countries in the Middle East, with a mob attacking the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in the second city Mashhad.

 

 

Abdollahian also said Saudi Arabia was “undermining the interests of its own people and the Muslim people of the region with its plot to bring down oil prices”, referencing crude prices that are near multi-year lows.

 

 

Iran and Saudi are major producers, but Riyadh’s current level of crude output far outpaces that of the Islamic Republic and it is seen as a heavyweight in its ability to help set the direction of oil prices.

M M Alam

M. M. Alam is a Pakistan-based working journalist since 1981. Karachi University faculty gold medalist Alam began his career four decades ago by writing for Dawn, Pakistan’s highest circulating English daily. He has worked for region’s leading publications, global aviation periodicals including Rotors (of USA) and vetted New York Times as permanent employee of daily Express Tribune. Alam regularly covers international aviation and defense-related events including Salon Du Bourget (France), Farnborough (United Kingdom), Dubai (UAE). Alam has reported thousands of events and interviewed hundreds of people in Pakistan, UAE, EU, UK and USA. Being Francophone Alam also coordinates with a number of French publications.