Arab foreign ministers condemned attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and on Sunday said that the nation would face wider opposition if it continued its “interference” in the internal affairs of Arab states.
Tensions between the Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shiite Muslim Iran have escalated since Saudi authorities executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Jan. 2, triggering outrage among Shiites across the Middle East.
In response, Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad, prompting Riyadh to sever relations. Tehran then cut all commercial ties with Riyadh and banned pilgrims from traveling to Mecca.
Other Arab nations have recalled envoys to Iran and the UAE downgraded relations in solidarity with Saudi Arabia.
“Iran has to decide what kind of neighbor it wants to be: A good neighbor or a chaotic neighbor, and so far, it behaves like the latter,” UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said following an emergency Arab League meeting in Cairo.
Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said cutting commercial and diplomatic ties was a first step and that his nation would discuss potential further actions against Iran with its regional and international allies. He gave no further details.
If Iran continues to support “terrorism, sectarianism and violence,” it would face opposition from all Arab nations, al-Jubeir told a news conference following the meeting.
In a closing statement distributed after the meeting, the Arab League also referred to the reported discovery by Bahrain of a militant group that it said was backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
All members of the Arab League voted in favor of the statement, with the exception of Lebanon, where Iranian-backed Hezbollah is a powerful political force.
Conflicts or political crises from Lebanon and Syria to Yemen, Iraq and Bahrain involve proxies of both Saudi Arabia and Iran.
A coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Shiite, Iran-allied Houthi movement in Yemen since March last year.
Iran also backs the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his nation’s civil war, while Saudi Arabia insists he must go for any legitimate peace process to take place.
In Bahrain, Saudi Arabia backs the Sunni monarchy while Iran has expressed support for anti-government demonstrators in the Shiite majority Gulf kingdom.
The Arab League statement did not agree on any specific joint measures against Iran, but set up a smaller committee comprising the Arab League secretary general and representatives from Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to follow up on the row.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the