UN Security Council calls on Iran to protect diplomatic personnel

ASKS TEHRAN TO GAURD DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY AND RESPECT INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS

The UN Security Council on Monday strongly condemned an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran by protesters angry over Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

The statement by the 15-member council made no mention of the execution of Shaikh Nimr Al Nimr and called on Iran to protect diplomatic personnel and property.

Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday after protesters ransacked and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the consulate in Mashad.

“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran, and its Consulate General in Mashad in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in intrusions into the diplomatic and consular premises, causing serious damage,” said the council statement.

Expressing “deep concern” over the attacks, the council “called on the Iranian authorities to protect diplomatic and consular property and personnel, and to respect fully their international obligations in this regard.”

‘Reduce tensions’

Council members urged the sides to “maintain dialogue and take steps to reduce tensions in the region.”

Saudi Ambassador Abdullah Al Mouallimi had earlier urged the council to “take all appropriate measures to ensure the inviolability of diplomatic facilities and the protection of all Saudi diplomats in Iran.”

Riyadh also defended the execution of 47 men including Al Nimr, saying in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that they were “granted fair and just trials without any consideration to their intellectual, racial or sectarian affiliation.”

International fears were growing that the Saudi-Iranian rift would derail peace efforts in Syria and Yemen and two UN envoys were dispatched to Riyadh to keep diplomatic gains afloat.

Meanwhile, Iran’s president criticised Saudi Arabia Tuesday for severing diplomatic relations with Tehran.

A statement posted on his official website said Rouhani discussed the current diplomatic dispute with visiting Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen.

“The Saudi government has taken a strange action and cut off its diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran to cover its crimes of beheading a religious leader in its country,” Rouhani said.

Meanwhile, Turkey on Monday urged Iran and Saudi Arabia to calm tensions, saying the hostility between the two key Muslim powers would only further escalate problems in an explosive region.

“We want both countries to immediately move away from the situation of tension that will obviously only add to the already severe tensions existing in the Middle East,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in Ankara’s first reaction to the crisis.

“The region is already a powder keg. Enough is enough. We need our peace in the region.”

International fears were growing that the SaudiIranian rift would derail peace efforts in Syria and Yemen and two UN envoys were dispatched to Riyadh to keep diplomatic gains afloat.