Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in the early hours of Sunday after Saudi Arabia executed Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, prompting Riyadh to withdraw its diplomatic staff and order Iranian diplomats to leave the kingdom.
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“News that Saudi Arabia has cut diplomatic relations with Iran has led to short covering in early trading on the oil market as traders build risk premium into prices”, said Mr Spooner. In a news conference, the Saudi minister of foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, gave Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country.
Mobs attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and a consulate in Mashhad, a holy city in northern Iran.
The UAE, an ally of Saudi Arabia that is also home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, cut the number of Iranian diplomats allowed in the country, after summoning the ambassador to protest what it called Iran’s interference in Saudi Arabia.
Officials were preparing for a high-level USA conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to stress the importance of continuing the Iraqi government’s outreach to Sunni militias, the officials said.
Sudan says it is severing its diplomatic relations with Iran.
The latest dispute is a unsafe shift in a volatile region. Investment ties are also minimal, though Saudi food conglomerate Savola has major manufacturing operations in Iran.
– In March 2015, Saudi Arabia began a military campaign in Yemen to stop the Houthis, allied to Iran, from taking power. Relations between Riyadh and Tehran have been tense ever since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in the revolution of 1979, adding religious competition to a burgeoning geopolitical rivalry.
Saudi Arabia also executed 46 others besides al-Nirm, the cleric, who criticized the Saudi royal family.
While Iran has long supported Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime, the explosion of protest movements across the region in 2011 offered Saudi Arabia a chance to bring Syria back into what it deems “the Arab fold” by supporting a range of groups opposing the government – many of whom remain locked in combat with it today. His case was championed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and by Tehran, where top officials warned that Nimr’s death would “cost Saudi Arabia dearly”.
Trade between Saudi Arabia and Iran is small compared with the size of their economies, but some business is routed through the United Arab Emirates; comprehensive figures are not available. The two countries would most likely prefer to continue to fight one another through proxies, as they are doing presently in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran following the announcement of Nimr’s death.
“It is unjustifiable”, he said in a statement.
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The statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, accused Tehran of “blind sectarianism” and said that “by its defense of terrorist acts” Iran is a “partner in their crimes in the entire region”. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence. The sheikh’s brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.
