Tehran Friday Prayer Leader Implicitly Accuses Saudi Arabia of Attacking Its Own Embassy

Mohammad Imami Kashani, the interim Friday prayer leader of Tehran, condemned the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, stating that it was orchestrated by a group behind the scenes that consisted of enemies who wanted to shift the blame onto Iran and cut off relations, but they also used foolish individuals. According to ISNA, during the Friday prayer on January 7, he said that the attack on the Saudi embassy was 'both a crime and a betrayal' and 'it is clear that infiltrators played a role in it.' The Tehran Friday prayer leader added that 'foolish individuals were also present' during the attack and quoted Imam Sadiq saying to avoid friendship with fools who intend to benefit you but end up causing harm. Imami Kashani also stated that 'the crimes in the region are carried out with the planning of Israel, the support of America, and the money of Saudi Arabia,' condemning what he called 'the crime of Al Saud in martyring Ayatollah Nemer.' In Mashhad, Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of the city, deemed attacks on embassies as 'not permissible,' but said that 'simultaneously with the execution of Sheikh Nemer and the escalation of public protests, with the fire that the Saudis ignited in their embassy, they sought to create a pretext to cut relations with Iran.' Thus, Alamolhoda, like the Tehran Friday prayer leader, considered the Saudis behind the attack on their own embassy in Tehran. According to the Mashhad Friday prayer leader, 'one of the security agents during the protests in Qom before the revolution threw a stone at a bank window, and the second agent threw a second stone, and then, as this movement escalated, they found a pretext to shoot the people.' Alamolhoda added that 'this satanic tactic is used by all enemies, and in recent events, the Saudi government employed the same tactic.' He emphasized that 'protests should not give a pretext to the enemy.' Dozens of individuals known as 'plainclothes' and protesters against the execution of Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, a Shia cleric from Saudi Arabia, attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the consulate in Mashhad on Saturday, January 1, vandalizing the buildings and looting their property. The attackers also set various parts of the two buildings on fire. Iranian security officials initially identified the attackers as 'self-directed agents' and later stated that these individuals 'were not Hezbollah forces.' The Islamic Republic condemned this incident. The United Nations Security Council and several world governments also condemned the attack on the Saudi embassy and consulate in Iran. Following these events in Tehran and Mashhad, Saudi Arabia and several other countries either severed or reduced their relations with Iran. According to international law, diplomatic premises of countries in the territory of other countries are considered part of the home country's territory. Nevertheless, in the years following the establishment of the Islamic Republic, protesters in Iran have repeatedly attacked the embassies of the United States, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Denmark, and Saudi Arabia.