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Saudi to appoint new envoy to Iraq

February 25, 2017 at 3:52 pm

Saudi Arabian Ambassador Thamer al-Sabhan (L) with the Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on 14 January, 2016

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Iraqi officials in Baghdad today that the kingdom plans to appoint a new ambassador, an Iraqi foreign ministry official said.

Iraq last year asked Saudi Arabia to replace its ambassador, Thamer Al-Sabhan, after his comments about Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs and government persecution of Sunni Muslims angered local Shia Muslim politicians and militia leaders, many of whom are directly connected to the Iranian regime.

Al-Jubeir’s visit to Baghdad is the first by a Saudi foreign minister since 1990.

On his visit, Al-Jubeir met his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim Al-Jafari and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi.

Al-Sabhan was the first ambassador appointed by Saudi Arabia after it reopened its embassy in Baghdad in 2015 following a 25-year break after Riyadh closed its embassy’s doors in the wake of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Saudi Arabia has long accused Iraq of being too close to Shia Iran, its main regional rival, and of encouraging sectarian discrimination against Sunnis, a charge Baghdad denies. However, international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have slammed the Iraqi authorities for its sectarian bias against the Sunni Arab populace.

Enmity between Sunni and Shia regional powers has deepened in recent years as sectarian conflicts rage in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.