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 In a letter to the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon published by
Iranian news agencies on Saturday, Mohammad Javad Zarif said "some
people" in Riyadh seemed bent on dragging the whole region into
crisis.
The two powers, both major oil exporters, have been locked in a
diplomatic battle since Saudi Arabia executed Shi'ite cleric Nimr
al-Nimr on Jan. 2. Iranian protesters then stormed the Saudi embassy
in Tehran, prompting Riyadh to sever relations.
Zarif said Iran had "no desire" to escalate tensions further, but
offered no compromise as he placed the blame for the crisis, and the
wider turmoil across the region, squarely on Saudi shoulders.
"They (the Saudis) can continue to support extremist terrorists and
promote sectarian hatred, or choose the path of good neighborliness
and play a constructive role in regional security," state news
agency IRNA quoted Zarif's letter as saying in Farsi.
 Zarif said Sunni Saudi Arabia had engaged in a series of "direct
provocations" toward Shi'ite Iran, including the execution of Nimr
and what he described as "persistent mistreatment" of Iranian
pilgrims visiting Mecca.
Saudi Arabia says last week's executions were a domestic matter, and
that Iran is the country pursuing sectarian division by casting
itself as the champion of Arab Shi'ites.
Zarif also portrayed Saudi Arabia as a threat to regional and global
security in the letter, copies of which were sent to the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the foreign ministers of
several countries.
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"Most members of al Qaeda, the Taliban, Islamic State and Nusra
Front are Saudi citizens or have been brainwashed by demagogues
wielding oil money," IRNA quoted him as writing, in an unusually
direct allegation.
Saudi Arabia opposes extremist groups: it executed dozens of al
Qaeda members last week alongside Nimr, and last month announced an
Islamic coalition against terrorism. But the kingdom's ultra
conservative Wahhabi clergy, which views Shi'ites as heretical, is a
cornerstone of Saudi ruling legitimacy.
Riyadh says around 2,500 Saudis have gone to fight in Syria and
Iraq, constituting one of the largest groups of foreign fighters,
but only a fraction of the total number estimated to be in the tens
of thousands.
(Reporting by Sam Wilkin; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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