The row has raised fears of an increase in sectarian tensions in the Middle East that could derail efforts to resolve pressing issues including the wars in Syria and Yemen. That could spark further unrest, as witnesses in eastern Saudi towns have reported hearing gunfire overnight and armoured personnel carriers have been seen driving through neighbourhood streets. However, an Associated Press reporter who reached the site just after the announcement saw no damage to the building, which sits in a neighborhood near a presidential palace that’s seen many previous strikes.
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Also on Wednesday, Qatar recalled its ambassador from Iran to protest the attacks on the Saudi diplomatic missions, according to a brief report carried by the official Qatar News Agency.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that Saudi Arabia can not use severing diplomatic ties with Iran to “hide its crime” of executing cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was critical of the Riyadh kingdom.
Saudi Arabia was “spreading delusional hype about Iran” after failing to derail the nuclear deal reached with world powers, Tehran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Iran’s foreign minister expressed regret that the Saudi Arabia pursued the policy of tension while Iran is seeking peace; “our policy is to have coordination and cooperation with all neighbors showing respect for the Arab world as an important component of the Muslim world”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday refused to condemn Saudi Arabia for its execution of 47 convicts including a prominent Shia cleric, saying it was an “internal legal matter” of the kingdom. Mohammed al-Nimr, the sheikh’s brother, said people planned to hold a funeral Thursday for the cleric, though Saudi authorities already buried his corpse in an undisclosed cemetery.
There are concerns new unrest could erupt.
On Thursday, the Saudi soccer body said it awaits an Asian Football Confederation response to its request to order matches for its clubs in Iran moved to neutral countries. That watchdog and others have alleged that Saudi officials discriminate against the Shiites by rarely allowing them to build mosques and limiting their access to public education, government employment and the justice system, something the government denies.
However, many ultraconservatives of the Saudi Wahhabi school of Islam view Shiites as heretics.
Iranian demonstrators burn representations of the USA and Israeli flags during a demonstration in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran, Iran.
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Zarif reiterated that the death penalty applied to the great scholar is not defensible; “unfortunately, over the past two years Saudi Arabia has rejected all measures taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran in line with formation of agreement and brotherhood in a region threatened with terrorism”.
