Iraq offers to mediate in Saudi Arabia-Iran row

Iraqi Shia protesters chanted slogans against the Saudi government as they held posters showing the executed cleric, Nimr al-Nimr [AP]
Sign up for weekly stories behind the headlines
Subscribe
Email Address
*
Write a comment
Bader Rammal
This Shia Foreign Minister of Baghdad government "al-Jaafari" once said in a Shia meeting, "When I become a PM, I will not allow any Sunni to stay in Baghdad".
Max Barry
How Sunni. Sunni's all over the world are attacking Shia minorities. Muslim love and tolerance.
Bader Rammal
Your Shia allies are history, Maximum BS!
Abu Kaysun
What source did this statement come from ?
Bader Rammal
Shia don't broadcast their meetings live on air or call the media to attend it.
There are many Sunnis embedded among Shia!
Margarete MacVean-Kilic
He is not able to mediate within his own country. The Sunnis and Shias are compeletly hostile in Iraq due to the governments politic.
Anonymous
Position wanted....Mediator...can show freshly printed credentials
FEATURED
Iraq is willing to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia, its foreign minister said, as a deepening diplomatic row between the two regional heavyweights continued.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari was speaking on Wednesday in a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who appeared to indicate that Tehran was open to resolving the stand-off.
Zarif said Iran "wants no tension in the region and would always welcome dialogue with its neighbours".
Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic relations with Iran after its embassy in Tehran was stormed by protesters angered by the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shia cleric, who was put to death along with 46 other mainly Sunni convicts on terrorism charges.
Though thousands of Iraqi Shias took to the streets on Tuesday to protest the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Baghdad has taken a more cautious line.
Iran is a key ally of the Shia-led government in Baghdad, has helped it in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, and supports powerful Shia militias in the country.
At the same time, as the fight against ISIL enters its second year, Iraq is grappling with its worst political and security crises since the withdrawal of US troops in 2011.
Last week, Saudi Arabia sent an ambassador to Baghdad for the first time in 25 years.
Regional tensions should be faced "wisely, responsibly and rationally in order to preserve the security and stability of Iraq," Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement on Tuesday.

Source: Agencies