Riyadh, (IINA) - Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir announced on Sunday that the Kingdom has decided to cut its diplomatic relations with Iran. He also ordered the personnel of Iran's diplomatic mission, including the embassy, consulate and other affiliated offices, in Saudi Arabia to leave the country within 48 hours, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Al-Jubeir made the remarks in a press conference held here on Sunday evening, during which Ambassador Osama Nogali Briefed reporters on the details and developments of the aggressive acts targeting the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate general in the Iranian city of Mashhad.
He said that the Embassy in Tehran received several telephone calls on Saturday morning threatening to kill its personnel. At 2:20 pm (Tehran Standard Time) on the same day, crowds of mobs started to gather in front of the embassy, triggering the Charge d'Affaires ad interim (a.i.) to immediately notify the Iranian foreign ministry of the development, demanding protection of the embassy, but in vain. At 9:30 pm, another crowd of demonstrators gathered in front of the embassy, hurling stones and incendiary bombs at the building.
On Sunday 2:00 am, two members stormed the embassy and set parts of it ablaze. At nearly 2:30 am, the crowd stormed the embassy building, the Charge d'Affaires continued contacting the Iranian foreign ministry, but his calls went unanswered.
The Charge d'Affaires tried to obtain secured protection to inspect the embassy headquarters but his request was not met until late afternoon, where he found that the building was devastated and destroyed, its contents broken, and devices, appliances, and furniture robbed and stolen.
Nogali noted that at 3:30 am, the electricity was cut off for one hour from the district where the homes of the embassy personnel are located.
At the Saudi consulate in Mashhad, the following incidents took place:
At 11:00 am on Saturday, a taxi forced its way across the security barrier of the consulate, attempting to storm the interior gate of the consulate without being prevented by the Iranian authorities. At 4:30 pm, a crowd estimated at more than 2,000 persons gathered in front of the consulate building, hurling stones and incendiary bottles, leading to breaking some external glass windows of the building with a group of them trying to storm the building but failed.
He noted that the Iranian authorities response was negative, as it did not exert any effort to stop such criminal acts or arrest the involved.
It is noteworthy that this is not the first time for the Saudi diplomatic mission in Tehran and Mashhad to face such hostilities. Similar offenses have occurred in the past years before the very eyes and ears of the Iranian government without any measures taken to preserve the security and safety of the Kingdom's mission and its personnel nor to bring the culprits to justice.
Accordingly, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken the following measures: First: The Iranian ambassador to the Kingdom was summoned on Saturday at the headquarters of the Saudi Foreign Ministry and was given a strong protest note, holding the Iranian regime accountable for those attacks in its capacity as the host country required to provide the necessary protection for foreign missions according to international relevant agreements and laws.
Second: Saudi Arabia notified the UN Security Council of those hostilities as well as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and demanded the UN Security Council to guarantee the protection of diplomatic missions and their personnel according to international agreements and laws.
Third: All countries with which the Kingdom shares relations have been briefed on the hostile statements issued by the Iranian government, a provocation triggering the breaching of the sanctity of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the consulate general in Mashhad.
Fourth: Extraordinary measures were taken to evacuate some 47 dependents, including women and children, of the Saudi diplomats and officials in Iran. They were presumed to leave aboard the Emirates flight that departs at 7:20 pm, but the Iranian authorities hindered their departure, which was changed to a substitute flight at Sunday 10:00 pm.
The Saudi government expressed its gratitude to the UAE for the help it provided to evacuate the members of the Saudi mission from Iran. The government also thanked the GCC, the Arab League and a number of countries who vowed strong and firm positions against attacks targeting the Saudi diplomatic mission in Iran.
SPA also reported that all members of the Saudi diplomatic mission and its personnel in Tehran and Mashhad are safe and that nobody was subjected to any harm. It also noted that the Saudi government is keen to guarantee the security and safety of those who are still in Iran through continuous follow-up. After briefing reporters on the government’s measures, Al-Jubeir delivered the following speech: "After having been briefed on the details of the hostilities which the Saudi diplomatic mission in Iran sustained, I would like to further inform you that the Iranian regime has a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions. I, herewith, cite the occupation of the US embassy in 1979, the attack against the British embassy in 2011 and yesterday's offense against the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran and consulate general in Mashhad”.
He added: “Such continual assault on diplomatic missions constitutes a flagrant violation of all international agreements, charters, and treaties. Also, these attacks come after aggressive statements issued by Iranian prominent figures, a blatant provocation that encouraged others to attack the Kingdom's missions”.
He stressed that the offenses are considered a continuation of the Iranian hostile policy in the region, noting that it aims at destabilizing the region's security and stability and spreading sedition and wars.
“This matter is certain as the Iranian regime provides safe havens on its territories for Al-Qaeda leaders since 2001. The Iranian regime has also provided protection for a number of those involved in Al-Khobar Towers explosion in 1996”, Al-Jubeir said. “In addition to these hostile attacks, the Iranian regime has managed to smuggle weapons and explosives, plant terrorist cells in the region, including the Kingdom, aiming to spread chaos and unrest”.
He pointed out: “The history of Iran is full of negative and hostile interference in Arab countries affairs, always accompanied with subversion, demolition, and killing of innocent souls”.
“Upon these realities, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announces cutting its diplomatic ties with Iran and demands all the members of Iran's diplomatic mission (embassy, consulate and other offices affiliated to them) to leave within 48 hours”, he added.
After his speech, Al-Jubeir answered questions from reporters. He was asked to comment on a suggestion that some Arab countries have turned victims under the Persian, ISIS and Al-Qaeda expansion trends and whether it is time to form a unified Arab force extending from the Ocean to the Gulf. Al-Jubeir rejected the notion that Arab or Islamic countries have fallen a prey of Iran.
“This is incorrect”, he said, adding “on the contrary, reality indicates something else. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia supported the formation of the joint Arab force and tried and worked to see the establishment of an Islamic Military Alliance to combat terrorism and extremism to which more than 35 countries announced memberships. The alliance will have an operation room in Riyadh and will work on two paths: a military/security path and an intellectual path”.
He said that the purpose of this alliance is to assemble all the abilities of the Islamic world to confront terror and extremism from the security and military points of view through practical training as well as intellectual confrontation. He also noted that the Arab world is aware of the danger of Iran's interference in the affairs of the region.
The minister added that Saudi Arabia is keen to secure the security and stability of all the Arab countries and is very keen to confront the Iranian aggressive movements in the region. Al-Jubeir pointed out that he believes Iran's interference would not serve the interests of Iran or the security and stability of the region. Asked to respond to the US State Department's comment on the execution of Nimr Al-Nimr, Al-Jubeir said that Saudi Arabia has already explained to the US side that the Kingdom enjoys independent and just judiciary and that it will not accept any criticism of the independence of its judiciary system.
“What happened is that some people were convicted of having staged terrorist actions leading to the killing of innocents. The suspects appeared before courts in an apparent and fair way with the courts convicting them after giving them all chances of defense at all litigation levels”, he said.
Al-Jubeir said that the issue is simple. “Some terrorists were convicted of having committed terror operations targeting the innocents. We don't accept any interference in the judiciary system of the Kingdom as we respect the judiciary systems of other countries and never interfere with them”, he said, adding that any country who would like to clarify any point, will be given an explanation.
A reporter asked about what comes after cutting the relations with Iran and what are the steps to be taken if Iran opted to escalate this diplomatic crisis.
Al-Jubeir answered: "We are determined not to allow Iran to threaten our safety and security and will not allow it to implant terror cells in our countries or our allies. We have decided to severe our relations with a terror-sponsor country, and we urge all countries to consider seriously whether they could tolerate sharing relations with a terror-sponsor country".
Asked to comment on calls coming from some figures to hit the Kingdom's interests in Iraq, Al-Jubeir said that the Kingdom takes such threats seriously and that it has already contacted the Iraqi government in this regard. He noted that Baghdad vowed to provide protection to the Saudi diplomatic facilities, missions and diplomats accredited to Iraq.
“However, the Kingdom is determined to proceed with its methodology of confronting terrorism in all its forms”, he said.
As for the GCC countries, and whether there would be a concerted GCC position towards Iran, Al-Jubeir said that the Kingdom has taken this decision unilaterally without coordinating with GCC countries in this regard.
However, he pointed out that there was a joint communiqué issued by the GCC secretariat general denouncing the Iranian position and intervention and its violation of the Saudi embassy and consulate in Mashhad.
The minister also noted that a number of countries in the world have supported the Kingdom and criticized Iran's position. “Every country is free to decide what it would do”, he said, adding that the Kingdom categorically rejects dealing with a terror-sponsor country that killed innocents in the Kingdom, spread insurgence and sectarianism in the Middle East region and the Islamic world.
Asked whether the Kingdom is going to sue Iran in the UN for such violations, Al-Jubeir said that the Kingdom is studying all options available, whether through the Arab League, the OIC or the UN.
“We are going to spare no effort to guarantee our rights, and the future steps of the Kingdom”, he said.
He stressed that the government's objective is to protect the interests of the Kingdom, the Saudi people, its territories and to provide support and assistance to Saudi Arabia’s allies so that Iranian negative practices would not harm them.
AG/IINA
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