Syria’s political opposition in exile urged all Arab countries on Monday to sever diplomatic ties with Iran after Saudi Arabia, a strong supporter of the Syrian opposition, cut relations with Tehran. “The Islamic Republic of Iran will take necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents in the future”.
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Sudan has given Iranian diplomats two weeks to leave the country, following Khartoum’s decision to cut diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic in solidarity with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia also announced that all flights to and from Iran have been cancelled.
LEBANESE HEZBOLLAH MOVEMENT – Hezbollah was founded in 1982 with the help of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards after Israel invaded Lebanon. But the royal families’ allies, beginning with the United States, should be asking whether the Salman court is consolidating control and checking Iran’s expansionism, as it contends, or sowing chaos in an already-stricken region while undermining itself.
Also on Monday, Saudi Arabia’s UN Ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi said that the two countries would have “normal relations” if Iran “cease and desist from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, including our own”. Saudi Arabia has been one of the biggest benefactors of those trying to overthrow him. The protesters were enraged over the Sunni kingdom’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr over the weekend. The Shiite-led government has warmed Riyadh that such executions “would lead to nothing but more destruction”.
Syria’s Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi on Saturday said the execution of al-Nimr is “a crime and an assassination of the freedom of speech and human rights”. “We want to make it very clear that there is no space in the community of nations for a country that condones terrorism, that supports terrorism and that engages in terrorism”. The Saudis are the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority in the Arab world, providing them some $200 million annually.
YEMEN – The Arab world’s poorest country is torn by a civil war pitting its internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, against Shiite rebels known as Houthis, who are supported by Iran.
Egypt’s foreign minister has denounced the attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran as “unacceptable”.
In response to the calls, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hossein Jaber Ansari, said Monday that Iran is not interested in causing tensions with Saudi Arabia.
In the wake of the attacks, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan announced the cutting of diplomatic ties with Iran.
The escalation of tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran against the backdrop of the Saudi execution of a prominent Shia cleric could negatively rebound on the efforts for establishing a peace process in Syria, analysts here said.
UNITED KINGDOM – Britain and Iran reopened their respective embassies in 2015, four years after hard-line protesters stormed the British embassy in Tehran. “We need to be vigilant about what is happening between Saudi Arabia and Iran”, Le Foll was quoted as saying by local media.
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A man was shot dead in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province late on Sunday, and two Sunni mosques in Iraq’s Shi’ite-majority Hilla province were bombed in the fallout from the dispute between the Middle East’s top Sunni and Shi’ite powers. It’s unclear whether Russian officials have made a formal offer to work with the two nations.
