Tehran accuses Saudis of bombing its embassy in Yemen
Row is latest bout in ongoing diplomatic war between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia
Women protest outside the Saudi embassy in Yemen against the execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr
Iran has accused Saudi Arabia of deliberately bombing its embassy in the Yemen capital Sana'a, injuring several members of staff. State media said planes had deliberately targeted the building in airstrikes on Thursday.
However, according to an AP reporter on the site, there was no sign of damage to the embassy, the BBC reports. A Saudi spokesman said the claims would be investigated.
Yemen has been the site of a proxy war between the largely Sunni Saudi Arabia and mostly Shia Iran for the best part of a year, says Simon Mabon in The Independent.
Shia Houthi separatists â thought to be supported by Iran - drove the country's Sunni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi into exile, while the Saudis are the prime movers behind a bombing campaign against the rebels by several Gulf states.
The enmity goes much further back, however, and relations have been "tense" since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, says Mabon. The two nations were already geopolitical rivals but the revolution added a religious bent.
Sunni governments around the Gulf fear Iran could mobilise Shias across the region, Mabon adds, with their own Shia minority populations "often viewed as 'fifth columns'".
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia executed prominent cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a spiritual figurehead for Shias across the region.
In response, a mob set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran. The Saudis then ended diplomatic relations with Iran, expelling their diplomats.
