In his conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, Ban expressed “disappointment” over the execution of al-Nimr, whose case he had raised with Riyadh many times, said Dujarric.
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Kuwait on Tuesday recalled its ambassador from Iran as a reaction to the attacks on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, and its Consulate-General in Mashhad, during which they were ransacked and set alight.
Sunni-centric Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan have cut all ties with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates downgraded its relations after the embassy in Tehran and another diplomatic facility were stormed by protesters.
However, Kuwait did not say it would sever its ties to Iran over the tensions.
Iran has responded angrily to the diplomatic moves, insisting it had no hand in the violent protests that followed the execution.
“The UK’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia does not mean that we shy away from raising legitimate human rights concerns”, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Foreign Office, Tobias Ellwood, told parliament.
The execution last week of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr – one of 47 executions carried out by the Saudis on the same day – widened the already deep Shia-Sunni sectarian rift in the region.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday said Turkey was ready to do everything it could to help calm flaring tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, after Ankara expressed alarm over the consequences of the dispute between two key Muslim powers for the region.
He also said that his country is ready to cooperate with other countries including European Union countries in the fight against terrorism.
Al-Nimr, a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority, was executed after being convicted of sedition and of other crimes, though he long denied advocating violence.
Saudi Arabia severed direct airline links with Iran as the biggest meltdown in relations between the rival Muslim powers since the 1980s begins to impact travel.
President Hassan Rouhani has referred to the embassy attackers as extremists and said Iran should put an end to attacking embassies once and forever.
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He said Riyadh would attend the upcoming talks on Syria, but took a swipe at Iran’s role in the almost five-year war there, saying: “They have been taking provocative and negative positions… and I don’t think the break in relations is going to dissuade them from such behaviour”.
