While armored personnel carriers rumbled through the area and smoke from burning tires rose into the air, the service for the cleric who advocated for Shiite rights in the Sunni-ruled kingdom passed without violence. And though armored personnel carriers rumbled through the streets and smoke rose from burning tires in al-Awamiya on Thursday night, the memorial for Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr proceeded peacefully. Al-Nimr’s brother, as well as another local resident of al-Awamiya in eastern Saudi Arabia, said they’ve heard gunfire on recent nights. “Pakistan can’t afford to provide what Saudi Arabia is looking for”, said Mosharraf Zaidi, an Islamabad-based commentator, adding that it had the most of any Muslim nation to lose from a broader sectarian breakdown between Sunnis and Shias.
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Salman, the sixth brother to rule as king since 1953, has set in motion the first transfer of power to a new generation for six decades, appointing his nephew Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince and his own son Mohammed bin Salman as deputy.
Asked about the possibility of war, Prince Mohammed said: “It is something that we do not foresee at all, and whoever is pushing towards that is somebody who is not in their right mind”.
Pakistan wants to deepen trade links with both Iran and Saudi Arabia and improve access to their vast energy resources to fuel its power-hungry economy. “For sure we will not allow any such thing”, he told the Economist.
The magazine said it conducted the interview on Monday. Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced it was severing relations with Iran because of the assaults.
He said the execution of Nimr, a Saudi citizen, had nothing to do with Iran and said the Iranian response to his death “proves that Iran is keen on extending its influence over the countries of the region”.
Iran will deliver its official report on the alleged strike to the United Nations later on Thursday, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, was quoted by ISNA news agency as saying.
Iran denounced those attacks, but the repercussions quickly rippled across the region with Saudi allies Bahrain, Sudan and Djibouti also cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran.
Others shouted “death to America” and “death to Israel”, frequent rallying cries at demonstrations in Iran. Those attacks came after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent opposition Shiite cleric over the weekend.
But whether or not they meant to raise the heat in a tense rivalry that already underpins wars across the Middle East, Saudi Arabia’s new rulers have shown no sign of regret. Iran has offered support to the Houthis, but denies actively supporting their war effort.
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Associated Press journalists in Yemen could not immediately reach the embassy in the war-torn capital on Thursday after the IRNA report. The decision was taken in an emergency cabinet meeting with President Hassan Rouhani, ISNA said.
