Tensions between the two major oil producers over Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric have erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis after Riyadh and its Sunni Arab allies cut or reduced ties with Iran, which sparked global concern.
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“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran, and its Consulate General in Mashhad in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in intrusions into the diplomatic and consular premises, causing serious damage”, said the council statement. European countries and regional power Turkey voiced concerns over the row, while US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian and Saudi counterparts on Monday and Moscow offered to act as an intermediary.
A statement posted on his official website said Rouhani discussed the current diplomatic dispute with visiting Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen. “But Saudi Arabia, which thrives on tensions, has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions”, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, said in televised remarks on Monday.
“As a country which has friendly relations with Iran and Saudi Arabia, we believe that both countries should show restraint”.
The oil industry’s top lobbyist says a new law allowing US crude exports helps explain why oil prices have not spiked despite heightened tensions between two of the world’s big oil-producing countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia. But Saudi diplomats had already departed Iran after angry crowds ransacked and burned the Saudi Embassy in Tehran overnight Saturday, in retaliation for the execution of Nimr.
Bahrain enjoys particularly close relations with Saudi Arabia, which like Bahrain’s leadership is suspicious of alleged Iranian efforts to destabilize the island nation, which has a tiny Shiite-majority but is Sunni-ruled.
But Bahrain, Sudan and the UAE have rallied to Saudi Arabia’s side, breaking off or downgrading relations with Iran in recent days.
Tiny Kuwait is home to both Shiites and Sunnis living in peace and has the most free-wheeling political system among all Gulf nations.
On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of people took to the streets of Sitra, situated some 12 kilometers (seven miles) southeast of the Bahraini capital city of Manama, to voice their anger at the Al Saud regime’s killing of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. An Associated Press journalist saw police fire tear gas and bird shot, while some protesters threw gasoline bombs. Several demonstrators suffered birdshot wounds.
Acceding to their demands risks disillusioning Sunnis, who already accuse the government of being too beholden to the militias and who often see neighboring Sunni powerhouses like Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as allies. It’s been the scene of long-running, low-intensity unrest since 2011 Arab Spring-inspired protests.
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Iran, for its part, expressed “regret” after the attacks on Saudi posts.
