Saudi Arabia announced the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr, convicted of terrorism charges, on Saturday along with 46 others, including three other Shiite dissidents and a number of al-Qaida militants.
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Zarif said Sunni Saudi Arabia had engaged in a series of “direct provocations” toward Shi’ite Iran, including the execution of Nimr and what he described as “persistent mistreatment” of Iranian pilgrims visiting Mecca.
Iran’s foreign minister has complained to the United Nations about Saudi Arabia’s “provocations” toward Tehran, as a diplomatic crisis between the region’s two major powers entered its second week.
Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in response and was joined by some of its Sunni Arab allies including Bahrain and Sudan. The United Arab Emirates downgraded relations with Iran, while Kuwait and Qatar have recalled their ambassadors.
Crisis in Saudi Arabia-Iran relations will invariably complicate the situation in region’s other countries, such as Syria, Yemen and Iraq, senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, James Dorsey believes.
The Associated Press reported that an AP correspondent in Sanaa could see no damage to the embassy.
“Iran prohibits the imports of all products from Saudi Arabia after severing relations”, Gazeta.ru cited the Press TV channel’s Twitter account as saying. It has previously condemned the storming of the missions and stepped up its protest by summoning the Iranian ambassador. Al-Nimr was a staunch critic of the Saudi government and demanded greater rights for the kingdom’s Shiite population, but always denied advocating violence.
A memorial service is underway for a Shiite sheikh executed by Saudi Arabia last weekend.
Erdogan on Wednesday said that Nimr’s execution was an “internal legal matter” for Saudi Arabia, and ties between Ankara and Riyadh have improved in recent months. Mohammed al-Nimr, the sheikh’s brother, said people planned to hold a funeral Thursday for the cleric, though Saudi authorities already buried his corpses in an undisclosed cemetery.
“This deliberate action by Saudi Arabia is a violation of all global conventions that protect diplomatic missions”, foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said, quoted by state television.
“It also confirms the embassy building is safe and has not been damaged”.
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At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Rouhani also accused the Saudis of providing money and weapons to “terrorists”, carrying out airstrikes in Yemen, and obstructing “the victory of Iraqi and Syrian governments”, the release said. Iran’s annual imports from Saudi Arabia total about US$60 million a year and consisted mostly of packing materials and textiles.
