Riyadh asked to recall its ambassador
Iraq has officially asked Saudi Arabia to recall its ambassador to Baghdad after the envoy allegedly told media outlets of a plot by Iran-backed Iraqi groups to assassinate him.
“The Iraqi foreign ministry has sent an official request to the Saudi foreign ministry to replace its ambassador to Iraq,” ministry spokesman Ahmad Jamal said in a statement, saying the government was unhappy with his opinions.
Thamer Al Sabhan, whose credentials were received in January 2016, became the first Saudi ambassador to Iraq in a quarter century, after relations were cut following ex-president Saddam Hussain’s invasion of Kuwait.
His posting got off to a rocky start, with popular anger among Iraq’s Shiite majority over the execution by Saudi Arabia a few days earlier of anti-government Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr.
In January, Al Sabhan was summoned after he gave an interview in which he criticised the Tehran-backed Shiite militia that make up the bulk of the Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary force battling Daesh alongside Iraqi security forces.
Al Sabhan downplayed the Iraq’s call to remove him yesterday telling Al Arabiya his ties with Iraqi politicians were amicable.
“Frankly I tried to fulfill my duties ... Saudi Arabia’s policies in Iraq will not change,” he said.
“We have a very amicable relationship with Iraqi politicians that the media does not capture. What I said to media in the past is that they are limited because they are under pressure from various sides.”