Saudi Arabia ordered an Iranian diplomat and three members of his team to leave the country Saturday, as the Kingdom continues to absorb Iranian missile strikes launched in retaliation for the US-Israeli military campaign against Tehran.
Riyadh holds Tehran directly responsible for the attacks on Saudi soil © Mena Today
Saudi Arabia ordered an Iranian diplomat and three members of his team to leave the country Saturday, as the Kingdom continues to absorb Iranian missile strikes launched in retaliation for the US-Israeli military campaign against Tehran.
In an official statement, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced "Iran's repeated attacks" and announced it had "taken the decision to declare persona non grata the military attaché of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as three members of the embassy's military mission."
The four diplomats have been given 48 hours to leave Saudi territory.
The expulsion of Iran's military attaché is a significant diplomatic escalation, stopping just short of a full severance of relations, but sending an unambiguous message: Riyadh holds Tehran directly responsible for the attacks on Saudi soil and is no longer willing to maintain even the pretense of normal diplomatic engagement with the regime conducting them.
Saudi Arabia has already declared that it reserves the right to military action against Iran following the ballistic missile strikes on its territory, including the unprecedented aerial threat alerts sent to Riyadh residents and the interception of four ballistic missiles targeting the capital.
By Nabil Al Blooshi
Saudi Arabia expects imminent coordinated attacks from Iraqi militias north of the Gulf state and from Yemen's Houthis from the south under the supervision of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a senior Saudi official said.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a joint defence agreement in Mecca on Friday, wedding Sunni Muslim U.S. allies alarmed at a regional conflagration that has brought Iranian missile fire onto Gulf oil exporters.
An Iranian parliamentary committee is reviewing a preliminary bill that would bar U.S., Israeli and other "hostile" vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing a lawmaker.
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