Saudi coastguards 'shoot, kill Iranian fisherman who entered Saudi waters'

Saudi coastguards shot and killed an Iranian fisherman who reportedly entered Saudi waters late on Friday, exacerbating tensions between the regional rivals.

"Two fishing boats were in the Persian Gulf and strayed due to high waves," Majid Aghababaie, head of border affairs at Iran's interior ministry, said in a statement published by Iranian media.

"The Saudi coastguard say the boats entered Saudi waters and killed one of the fishermen."

Iranian authorities are still attempting to determine if the boat entered Saudi waters, while there was no immediate reaction from Saudi Arabia.

"Even if the boats had entered Saudi waters, the coastguard were not authorised to open fire," Aghababaie added.

The shooting comes amid escalating tensions between the two countries and just over a week after twin attacks on Tehran's parliament and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini killed 17 people.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack but Iran's Revolutionary Guards as well as senior government officials accused Saudi Arabia of involvement.

"The US and Saudi regime had ordered their stooges to do this," the deputy chief of the Guards' Intelligence Service, Mohammad Hossein Nejat, said after the June 7 attacks.

Iran's Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi has also put the blame on Riyadh. "Saudi Arabia is sponsoring terrorist groups in Iran," he said on Thursday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, meanwhile, pointed the finger at Saudi Arabia during a visit to Norway this week.

"We have intelligence that Saudi Arabia is actively engaged in promoting terrorist groups operating on the eastern side of Iran in Baluchistan," Zarif said.

The incident also comes amid the Gulf region's worst diplomatic crisis in years.  

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt along with other Arab and Muslims countries cut off diplomatic ties and transport links to Qatar on June 5 over its alleged support for extremist groups - an allegation Qatar vehemently denies.

Iran has urged its Gulf neighbours to engage in a dialogue to resolve their dispute and sent several planeloads of food to Qatar earlier this month.