13 January 2016, 09:54 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Barack Obama in a recent phone conversation called for the deescalation of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin press service said Wednesday.
The phone conversation initiated by the US side took place on Tuesday.
“The leaders called also for the deescalation of tensions triggered by a crisis in the relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran,” the statement said.
In early January, a diplomatic row erupted in the Middle East, with Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia severing diplomatic ties with the region’s main Shiite power, Iran. The crisis came after protesters stormed the Saudi Arabian embassy in Iran in response to Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
