“One does not respond to criticism by cutting off heads”, Rouhani said as he welcomed visiting Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen to Tehran. News of his execution has sparked Shiite protests from Bahrain to Pakistan. “Undoubtedly, such actions can’t cover up that big crime”.
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Vali Nasr, a Middle East scholar and dean of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., joined NPR’s “Morning Edition” today to discuss the deteriorating relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
“We have taken this exceptional step in light of Iran’s ongoing interference in internal (Gulf Cooperation Council) and Arab affairs that has recently reached unprecedented levels”.
The countries back opposing sides in Syria and Yemen, where it was reported that Saudi airstrikes had intensified on Tuesday. Iranians, however, would still be able to visit the kingdom for pilgrimages to Mecca. “It shows you Saudi Arabia has had enough of Iran and wants to send a message”, said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a political science professor at Emirates University.
“The Secretary-General reiterated that the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran was deplorable, but added that the announcement of a break in Saudi diplomatic relations with Tehran was deeply worrying”, Dujarric told reporters.
Saudi authorities announced late on Sunday that they were severing diplomatic relations with Iran.
The Saudis say al-Nimr, among four Shiites who were executed, was being encouraged by Iran to foment unrest.
Al-Nimr, a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority, long denied advocating violence.
Saudi Arabia is determined that tensions with Iran should not derail global talks on Syria, another round of which is scheduled to take place in Geneva this month, the United Nations special envoy for Syria said on Tuesday. By allowing a mob to ransack the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Iran failed in its obligation to protect foreign diplomatic missions.
The execution of 47 people in Saudi Arabia has ignited an already tense situation across the Middle East, splitting the region along sectarian lines.
Anger boiled up in Iran, Iraq and elsewhere in the region following the execution of the top cleric on baseless terrorism-related charges, which also drew widespread global condemnation.
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The US has been trying to de-escalate the tensions between the two countries by contacting Saudi and Iranian officials in the past two days. The war has exacerbated hunger and disease in Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country.
