Saturday’s execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others in a single day on terrorism charges has stirred a vigorous reaction in the Middle East and beyond.
Advertisement
BAHRAIN – The tiny, Shiite-majority island kingdom off the Saudi coast, which long has relied on Riyadh for support of its Sunni rulers, was the first to cut ties with Iran and has also halted flights.
On Tuesday, for instance, Kuwait, whose ruling family and most of its citizens are Sunni, recalled its ambassador to Tehran, citing “torching and sabotage activities” of Iranian demonstrators.
“The two key countries that had to make compromises at that negotiating table were Saudi Arabia and Iran”, Nicholas Burns, a former senior official at the State Department, told CNN.
EGYPT: Visiting Riyadh on Tuesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry denounced the attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and said Iran’s behavior after al-Nimr’s execution amounts to “intervening in the kingdom’s internal affairs”.
While Jubeir said these pilgrimages would be not be impacted by the severing of ties, separate sources have said Saudi has closed Iran’s haj office in the kingdom.
IRAN – Since the attack on the diplomatic posts, Iran says it has made arrests and has criticized the violent protesters. It has said it will only restore them when Tehran stops meddling in the affairs of other countries.
Britain has begun the year by abandoning its strategy on the death penalty which had been in place since 2010, as executions in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan hit record numbers.
World powers have sought to calm the tensions.
Calling the breakdown in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia “deeply concerning”, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon talked to foreign ministers for both nations Sunday to push for peace. So far, that hasn’t changed either. But he said that it’s up to leaders in Tehran and Riyadh to stem the tensions, without the United States forcing the issue.
State Department spokesman John Kirby, meanwhile, urged engagement to reach “a resolution to these things peacefully, diplomatically and without violence”.
ISRAEL – Israel considers Iran to be its greatest regional threat because of its nuclear program, its arsenal of long-range missiles, its support of anti-Israel militant groups and its repeated threats to destroy it. While Israel has no direct ties to Saudi Arabia, the countries have a shared concern over Iran’s growing influence. “There is a European Council in six weeks’ time when the ambition is to secure those reforms, and I would expect him to continue his engagement with European leaders in the run-up to that”.
“It may well create further vacuums”, Jordan said of the current situation between the two countries.
Sunni Islam has gone on to dominate the faith – almost 90% of the world’s Muslims are Sunnis.
Advertisement
The execution of the cleric only exacerbated their differences and will play out in the coming weeks.
