The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has rejected pro-Saudi media reports about attempts to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Baghdad, a day after a high-ranking Iraqi military official also denied such reports.

Spokesman for the Iraqi ministry Ahmed Jamal dismissed on Monday evening allegations that fighters from pro-government Popular Mobilization Units had devised plots to assassinate Thamer al-Sabhan, the Saudi envoy, as false.

Jamal said such claims were only meant to damage the relations between Baghdad and Riyadh.

All diplomatic missions and embassies in Baghdad are being adequately protected by Iraqi security personnel under the Baghdad Operations Command, Jamal said.

He also said no foreign embassy, including the Saudi Arabian one, had informed Foreign Ministry officials of a potential threat.

On Sunday, the Baghdad Operations Command dismissed the reports about plots against the Saudi envoy, too.

The London-based Arabic-language Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper published a report on August 21, claiming that the Popular Mobilization Units, among them the Khorasan Battalion and Abu Fadl Al-Abbas forces, had sought to assassinate Sabhan by targeting his convoy with “rocket-propelled grenades.”

This is not the first time that Saudi Arabia and pro-Riyadh media outlets have taken measures aimed at slandering the Shia volunteer forces in Iraq. The Popular Mobilization Units have been successfully assisting regular military forces in Iraq to liberate areas overrun by Takfiri Daesh terrorists. The frequent attempts by Saudi Arabian officials to tarnish the image of the Shia forces have raised suspicions about collaboration between Riyadh and the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

Sabhan has on occasions received warnings from Iraqi officials for interference in the country's internal affairs.

In one of the latest such warnings, no less a person than Prime Minister Haider Abadi warned the Saudi ambassador to keep himself to his diplomatic duties only and refrain from meddling in Iraq’s domestic affairs.