The State Department said Monday that the Obama administration is not looking to take the lead in the effort to reduce tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and instead said those two countries will need to rely on “local solutions.”
“The long-term solution to these kinds of tensions are going to be local solutions,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said when asked what the U.S. role will be in getting the two countries to reconcile their differences.
Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia executed a Shiite cleric, prompting Iranians to attack the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia responded by cutting of diplomatic relations with Iran. Kirby said State’s message is that both sides should reach out to negotiate a resolution, and said Secretary of State John Kerry was in the process of talking to both sides.
“What our message is, to all the communication that we’ve had, is that we want to see tensions decrease, we want to see engagement continue, or to be reinstated whenever possible, so that a better mutual understanding can occur and calm can be restored,” Kirby said.
“If you’re asking if we were trying to become the mediator of this, the answer is no,” he added.
