The move came in response to Iran’s disregard of the global diplomatic norms, and its repeated attacks on diplomatic missions it hosts, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said in a press conference in Riyadh Sunday.
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Earnest said that Washington is concerned about the mounting tensions between Tehran and Riyadh, urging the two countries to help resolve the issue.
“There have been direct concerns raised by USA officials to Saudi officials about the potential damaging consequences of following through on the execution – on mass executions, in particular, the execution of” the Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Earnest told a news briefing.
After protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the country.
Following angry exchanges over Saudi Arabia’s execution on Saturday of the Shi’ite cleric, Riyadh and then Bahrain and Sudan severed relations with Teheran, the main Shi’ite power.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, partially downgraded its relations but the other Gulf Arab countries – Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – stayed above the fray.
Al-Jubeir also accused Iran of “providing safe shelter to al-Qaeda terrorists and the perpetrators of the 1996 Al-Khobar bombings in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern region”.
Expressing “deep concern” over the attacks, the council “called on the Iranian authorities to protect diplomatic and consular property and personnel, and to respect fully their worldwide obligations in this regard”. Sheik Nimr excoriated the Saudi regime with biting rhetoric – he once exulted that Prince Nayef, the former interior minister and father of the current crown prince, would “be eaten by worms and suffer the torments of hell” following his death – but he was not an advocate either of violence or militant sectarianism. De Mistura is expected in Riyadh on Monday and will travel to Tehran later in the week, said United Nations deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, whose 13 members include Saudi and Iran, decided last month against cutting output levels despite a plunge in oil prices – in a bid to maintain market share faced with competition from North American shale oil output.
The statement carried by its state-run news agency said it made the decision in “solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the face of Iranian schemes”. Also, with Saudi diplomatic missions closed in Iran, it will make it hard for Iranians to get visas for the hajj. Germany called on both sides to mend ties, with government spokesman Steffen Seibert telling reporters that “relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are of fundamental importance for solving the crises in Syria and Yemen, and for the stability of the entire region”.
Somalia also criticized the attack on Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran as a “flagrant violation” of worldwide law.
With the King gone, the Saudi advisers, despite their ritual expressions of distaste for Iran, agreed to be in the same room with Zarif at future meetings in Vienna. “Iraq has previously announced its position, rejected the execution of Sheikh Al-Nimr, as such actions do not contribute to the strengthening of worldwide relations or to peace in society”, Jamal said.
According to a purported cable released by WikiLeaks, a State Department official met with Nimr in 2008 in his hometown of Awamiyya, where Nimr said he was “against the idea that Saudi Shi’a should expect Iranian support based on some idea of sectarian unity that supersedes national politics”. Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Saudi Arabia supports the rebels trying to overthrow him.
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Iranian demonstrators burn representations of the US and Israeli flags during a demonstration in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran, Iran, to protest the execution of Saudi Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent oppositio…
