Saudi Arabia used an attack on its embassy in Tehran as a pretext to fuel tensions, Iran's foreign ministry said on Monday in response to Riyadh's severing of relations, adding that Tehran was committed to protecting foreign diplomatic missions.

Also READ: Cleric's execution: Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Iran

Iranian protesters had stormed the Saudi embassy in the early hours of Sunday after Saudi Arabia executed a Shia cleric, prompting Riyadh to withdraw its diplomatic staff and order Iranian diplomats to leave the kingdom.

"Iran... is committed to provide diplomatic security based on international conventions. But Saudi Arabia, which thrives on tensions, has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions," ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in televised remarks.

A Saudi Arabian man is shot dead in the kingdom's Eastern Province late on Sunday when security officers came under fire from an unidentified source. In the Reuters photo, a protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the execution of Shis cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London, Britain, January 3, 2016.