IRAN on Thursday said Saudi warplanes had attacked its embassy in Yemen’s capital, a development that would exacerbate tensions between the major Shi’ite and Sunni powers in the region, and Riyadh said it would investigate the accusation.

    “This deliberate action by Saudi Arabia is a violation of all international conventions that protect diplomatic missions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari was quoted as saying by state television news channel IRIB.

    “The Saudi Government is responsible for the damage caused and for the situation of members of staff who were injured,” Ansari added, without specifying when the alleged strike took place.

    Residents and witnesses in the capital Sanaa said there was no damage to the embassy building in Hadda district.

    They said an air strike had hit a public square about 700 meters away from the embassy and that some stones and shrapnel had landed in the embassy’s yard.

    A growing diplomatic dispute between Riyadh and Tehran triggered by Saudi’s execution of prominent Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr has damaged the outlook for any resolution to the conflict in Yemen, where a coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Shi’ite, Iran-allied Houthi movement.

    Nimr’s death sparked demonstrations in many countries including Iran, where protesters stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran as well as the kingdom’s consulate in second city Mashhad.

    Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in response and was joined by some of its Sunni Arab allies including Bahrain and Sudan. The United Arab Emirates also downgraded relations with Iran while Kuwait and Qatar recalled their ambassadors.

    A Saudi-led coalition has waged an air war on Iran-backed rebels in Yemen since March and the impoverished nation’s conflict is one of the main sources of dispute between the two regional adversaries.

    Also on Thursday, Iran banned all products from Saudi Arabia and said a ban on Iranians traveling to the Saudi holy city of Mecca for the umrah pilgrimage would remain in place “until further notice.”

    “The Cabinet has banned the entry of all Saudi products and products from Saudi Arabia,” a government statement said.

    (SD-Agencies)