The night after a Saudi executioner put Shi’ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr to death in a high-security prison, Iranian protesters stormed Riyadh’s Tehran embassy and Mashhad consulate.
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The visit came after the crisis between Saudi Arabia and Iran widened on Tuesday when Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Tehran.
Alex Neve, the head of Amnesty International Canada, said Dion’s comment was, “a bit out of the ordinary in terms of how willing previous governments have been to speak out about human rights concerns in Saudi Arabia”.
“We have treated these actions with magnanimity and nobleness but unfortunately our neighbour, Saudi Arabia, did not respond to it properly”, he said.
As Iraq fights its war against the Islamic State group that took over swathes of the country in 2014, partners offering their support against the jihadists have already been jockeying for influence on its soil.
Saudi Arabia, the region’s largest Sunni power, opposes the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and backs the toppled government in Yemen.
While embassies are often a focus of protests worldwide, Iran still celebrates the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran every year and refers to it as the Second Revolution.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has arrived in Pakistan¿s capital Islamabad amid growing tension with Iran over a Shiite cleric¿s recent execution by Saudis authorities.
Saudi Arabia executed the cleric and 46 others last week.
Non-Muslim religions can not build churches or public houses of worship in Saudi Arabia, and the government cracks down on blasphemy, sorcery, dissent, and apostasy, even treating acts of atheism and blasphemy as terrorism.
Since Saudi Arabia severed ties to Iran, a host of its allies have cut or reduced their ties as well.
Iran’s diplomatic rift with regional rival Saudi Arabia will stiffen the challenge it faces in attracting foreign investment once sanctions on its economy are lifted, according to analysts from IHS, Energy Aspects and Emirates NBD.
But analysts said fears of a sectarian rupture across the Middle East were premature, and the break in Saudi-Iran relations could be more a symptom of existing strains than evidence of new ones.
Following the attacks, Saudi Arabia ended diplomatic ties with Iran and gave the Iranian diplomatic mission two days to leave Riyadh.
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The violence has undermined the president’s efforts in the Middle East and beyond to bring Iran out of its relative isolation – exemplified by last year’s deal with world powers on its nuclear programme. In Bahrain, more protests were planned Friday, while Shiites across the greater Mideast have rallied throughout the week over al-Nimr’s execution.
