The Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood would only express the UK’s “disappointment” at the 47 executions carried out by Saudi Arabia at the end of last week.
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In his fourth address to the nation since taking power in 2011, Kim spoke of the need to increase the “political and military might” of his country “in every way”, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
And yet the rivals often compete indirectly through allies, which lends the contest an element of unpredictability: Some Iranian proxies may be encouraged by the tough rhetoric coming from Tehran to carry out attacks not sanctioned by the Guard.
In the tweet, a caricature showing the hand of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is seen trying to take over the Saudi embassy, suggesting a growing hatred among the Arab public for Iran. And while Nimr may have been close to Iran politically – and one of the most vocal critics of the Saudi government – his identification with the poor and disaffected among the Shia brought him considerable popular acclaim in the Shia heartland of eastern Saudi Arabia.
“This deliberate action by Saudi Arabia is a violation of all global conventions that protect diplomatic missions”, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said, quoted by state television.
“For the Saudi leadership, there will be no compromise with Iran’s aggressive policy”, he said.
“Attacks on Saudi diplomats are attacks on the U.S. order in the Middle East”, Badran said, referring to Saudi Arabia’s long-time status as a major USA ally.
Iranian government’s spokesman called the attack “suspicious” and “in favor of Saudi Arabia’s policies”.
Several Saudi allies have followed the kingdom’s lead and scaled back or cut diplomatic ties to Iran. It has previously condemned the storming of the missions and stepped up its protest by summoning the Iranian ambassador. Since the attacks, Iran says it has made arrests and has criticised the violent protesters.
Following the mass executions, an Arabic hashtag that translates into “the_execution of_47_terrorists_in_SaudiArabia” went viral across the Kingdom, as commentators insisted that all those killed were terrorists threatening the country’s domestic security.
Saudi Arabia has a sizable Shi’ite community in the east of the country, while the majority of Bahrain’s citizens are Shi’ites who live under a Sunni monarchy. The protesters, supporters of prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, chanted that al-Nimr’s blood had not been spilled in vain and that the Mahdi Army, Sadr’s disbanded Shiite militia, would avenge his death if needed.
Russian Federation is ready to serve as an intermediary to resolve the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran that saw the kingdom break off diplomatic relations with Tehran, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. It wasn’t immediately clear how the Kuwait-Iran diplomatic ties would be affected by the move.
“This responsibility has been given to us and we have been active from the early moments to lessen tensions to prevent a disaster from happening that could affect the entire region”, he said.
He says the “security of the kingdom is an integral part of Egypt’s security and Egypt’s security is an integral part of the kingdom’s security”.
Saddam, a Sunni, was hanged in 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shi’ite villagers after a failed assassination bid in 1982.
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Then on Saturday, Jan. 2, Saudi Arabia announced the execution of prominent Shiite dissident Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 others.
