Comoros Severs Ties with Iran


Comoros Severs Ties with Iran

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Comoros, the third-smallest African nation by area, said in a statement that it has cut relations with Iran after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday and asked the Iranian ambassador to leave the island nation immediately.

It had already called back its envoy in Tehran on January 4 amid the escalation of tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Comoros joined a few other Arab states that previously followed the lead of Saudi Arabia in cutting or downgrading relations with Iran.

On January 2, Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, among dozens of others. The execution ignited widespread international condemnation, from both political and religious figures.

The next day, furious demonstrators in the Iranian cities of Tehran and Mashhad stormed Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic buildings in protest at the execution of Sheikh Nimr.

Although Iranian officials criticized the embassy attack and police arrested dozens involved, Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic.

Since then, Bahrain, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, and now the Comoros have followed suit.

The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is a sovereign archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel off the eastern coast of Africa between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar.

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