During a Jan. 20 meeting with election officials, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei discussed the attack on the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Iran, upcoming parliamentary elections and implementation of the nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers.

Khamenei called the Jan. 2 attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad “very bad and wrong.” He added that this attack, as well as one on the British Embassy in 2011, were both “to the detriment of the country and Islam and I disliked both.” He also said that young religious groups, often called “Hezbollahis” in Iran, should not be blamed for the attack.

This is the first time Khamenei has publicly addressed the attack that resulted in Saudi Arabia cutting off all ties with Iran and led other Arab countries to downgrade their ties. His comments are not necessarily a surprise. He had previously condemned the attack on the British Embassy and in 1989 also spoke against attacks on embassies in general.

The Jan. 2 protests outside the embassy erupted after Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. After the attack, two security officials in the country were fired and the administration of President Hassan Rouhani was quick to distance itself from the actions of people it called “extremists.” Abbas Araghchi, deputy foreign minister of legal and international affairs, left Tehran on Jan. 19 to attend an emergency meeting in Jeddah of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The meeting was called for by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir to discuss the attack.