A senior diplomat deplored a recent statement by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as "unbalanced", calling on the organization to act correctly and deal with the real challenges facing the Muslim world.
"The Organization of Islamic Cooperation should tread on the right path to serve the Islamic world and address challenges such as sectarianism," Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters on the sidelines of an academic meeting in Tehran on Sunday, according to Tasnim News Agency.
He criticized the final statement of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers' extraordinary meeting held in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah on January 23 regarding an attack on Saudi Embassy in Tehran.
"Iran announced in the gathering that there exist much more pressing problems in the Muslim world that the OIC needs to deal with," Araqchi said.
"The extraordinary OIC meeting in Jeddah was held immediately to condemn the embassy attack, while it has been more than a year since the Palestinian government called for an extraordinary meeting of OIC to address the Israeli invasion of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
Araqchi then rejected the final statement as "unbalanced", saying Iran and Lebanon dissociated themselves from it at the meeting.
"Many other member states only condemned the embassy attack, while the vast majority of the participants disapproved of other parts of the statement," he said.
Saudi Arabia decided to sever relations with Iran after the kingdom's execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr drew widespread international condemnation and ignited furious protests in Iran, during which some demonstrators stormed the Saudi diplomatic buildings in the cities of Tehran and Mashhad.
Iranian officials condemned the attacks, with President Hassan Rouhani announcing that the perpetrators are standing trial in Iran.
