Iran nabs key suspects in Saudi embassy raid

Iranian security forces have detained three people accused of having played a key role in the recent raid on the Saudi embassy in the capital, Tehran, a top Iranian Judiciary official says.

“In the recent couple of days, three main suspects involved in the transgression against the Saudi embassy [in Tehran] have been identified and arrested; and the suspects have so far been heavily investigated,” Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said on Monday.

He also said that efforts continue to identify and apprehend more suspects, and that investigations continue regarding those already in custody.

On January 2, demonstrations were held in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northeastern city of Mashhad by angry protesters censuring the execution by Saudi Arabia of top opposition cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, which had been announced on the same day.

Some people mounted the walls of the consulate in Mashhad while incendiary devices were hurled at the embassy in Tehran. At least 60 people were detained over the violations of the diplomatic perimeters, which were condemned by top Iranian officials and followed by the Saudi severance of ties with the Islamic Republic.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for an urgent investigation into the assaults on Saudi diplomatic missions, saying the perpetrators must be “brought to justice.”

In a letter to Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli-Larijani on January 6, Rouhani denounced the attacks as a breach of the Islamic Republic’s security.

He said the Judiciary must prosecute those involved in this “evidenced offense” in a bid to bring a halt to such attempts against the standing of the Islamic Republic’s establishment.