Saudi Arabia Reassigns Ambassador to Iraq after Controversy
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Saudi Arabia says it has reassigned its ambassador to Iraq, months after he claimed that militias were plotting to assassinate him.
A royal decree issued early Sunday from King Salman announced Thamer al-Sabhan would be a minister of state for the Persian Gulf region.
Thamer al-Sabhan in 2015 became the first Saudi ambassador to be posted to Iraq since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait - an appointment which was seen as heralding closer cooperation in the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
He will be replaced by Abdulaziz al-Shamri, Riyadh's military attache in Germany, who will be appointed as the charge d'affaires to the Saudi embassy in Baghdad, Sabhan said on his Twitter account Friday.
The decree and a brief story on the state-run Saudi Press Agency did not elaborate on the reason for his reassignment, the Associated Press reported.
However, it comes after Iraq asked Saudi Arabia in August to replace al-Sabhan as it said the ambassador’s allegations were without evidence and harmed relations between the two countries.
