U.N. Seeks to Keep Mideast Peace Initiatives on Track Officials work to contain growing crisis between Iran and Saudi Arabia By Farnaz Fassihi
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-n-seeks-to-keep-mideast-peace-initiatives-on-track-1451965461
UNITED NATIONS—Senior U.N. officials and diplomats on Monday engaged in a flurry of diplomatic initiatives to contain the growing crisis between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The effort, they said, was to prevent U.N.-led peace initiatives in Syria and Yemen from being derailed, after Saudi Arabia and its allies severed or downgraded ties with Iran over attacks against the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
The U.N. Security Council later Monday issued a statement condemning the attacks on the embassy and Saudi consulate in Mashad—by Iranians protesting the kingdom’s execution of a Shiite cleric—and sharply criticized Iran for failing to protect diplomatic premises. The council also called on all parties to maintain dialogue and take steps to reduce tensions in the region.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia on Sunday and Monday to express his concerns over the escalating crisis and to seek reassurance that the two countries would remain committed to peace talks.
“The security-general urged both foreign ministers to avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between two countries and in the region as a whole,” Mr. Ban’s statement said.
The U.N. said it was sending its special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, to Riyadh on Monday and to Tehran later this week to mediate and seek reassurance that the Syria talks would remain on track. Officials said the U.N. special envoy for Yemen also would stop in Riyadh this week.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are regional power players and are viewed in the Islamic World as religious and political leaders of the Shiite and Sunni sects, respectively. Their rivalry is often played out through proxy political parties and militias in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.
Those tensions have been exacerbated since Saudi Arabia executed 47 prisoners, including a prominent dissident Shiite cleric, on Saturday. The executions set off angry protests by Shiites across the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Sunday asking for the council to take action against Iran for the security breaches against its embassies. Under international law, host countries are responsible for the security and safety of embassies and diplomatic staff.
“At the very least we expect a statement of condemnation,” said Saudi Ambassador to the U.N. Abdallah Al-Mouallimi. Mr. Mouallimi said Iran and Saudi weren’t natural enemies and shared a common interest in the region, but he accused Iran’s government of meddling in the domestic affairs of Arab countries.
Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. also sent a letter to Mr. Moon that expressed regret over the attacks and that said his government would prosecute those who violated the embassy grounds.
Iran has a history of attacking and ransacking foreign embassies, including the takeover and hostage-taking of American diplomats at the U.S. embassy in 1979. In 2011, Iranian radicals stormed the British embassy and the residence of the ambassador, vandalizing the compound. In response, the U.K. closed its embassy in Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats.
The Security Council debated the wording of the statement most of Monday. Diplomats said some council members whose countries have capital punishment didn’t want the statement to strongly condemn Saudi Arabia for the executions. Diplomats representing other countries said the statement couldn’t single out Iran’s attack of the Saudi embassy without mentioning the cause. In the end, the statement didn’t condemn the executions.
The U.N. Security Council in December adopted a resolution for a framework to end the five-year war in Syria. In the run-up to the agreement, Saudi Arabia and Iran sat down together for the first time, after significant amounts of diplomacy from their allies. Many analysts and diplomats now say that Syria’s peace process could be the first casualty of the deepening rift between the two.
The next round of Syria talks between President Bashar al-Assad’s government and opposition groups is scheduled for Jan. 25 in Geneva. But without Iran and Saudi involved little will be achieved, diplomats said.
“It could derail Syria talks, it could derail Yemen talks,” said Matthew Rycroft, the U.K.’s ambassador to the U.N.
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