Saudi Arabia continued severing its ties with Iran on Monday, announcing its civil aviation authority has canceled all flights to and from Iran, the AP reports.
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Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran early on Sunday morning as Shi’ite Muslim Iran reacted with fury to Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shi’ite cleric. The state news agency WAM announced that “the UAE has made a decision to reduce the level of diplomatic representation with the Islamic Republic of Iran to the level of a charge d’affaires and to reduce the number of Iranian diplomats in the country”.
In a letter to the council, the Saudi ambassador called on the council to “take all appropriate measures to ensure the inviolability of diplomatic facilities and the protection of all Saudi diplomats in Iran”. The RIA Novosti news agency did not say whether Moscow had made the mediation proposal to either side.
Sudan’s decision was announced a day after Saudi Arabia severed relations with Tehran.
Sudan on Monday severed diplomatic ties with Iran, joining a growing list of Saudi Arabia’s allies to do so following the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.
The move comes after Saudi Arabia and Bahrain both cut diplomatic ties to Iran.
Al-Nimr’s execution has opened a new chapter in the ongoing Sunni-Shiite power struggle playing out across the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia and Iran as primary antagonists. Like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the UAE is Sunni-ruled. It also followed harsh criticism by Iran’s top leader of the Saudis’ execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
He said Iran’s “hostile policy” was aimed “at destabilizing the region’s security”, accusing Tehran of smuggling weapons and explosives and planting terrorist cells in the kingdom and other countries in the region.
“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”, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
The move was likely to affect the annual hajj pilgrimage.
In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration believes “diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences”.
Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Dhaka previous year in September to brief leaders here about the nuclear deal.
The disruption in relations may have implications for peace efforts in Syria.
U.N. Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura is visiting Saudi Arabia and Tehran this week on a preplanned visit, while U.N. Yemen mediator, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, is to return to the region on Thursday, Dujarric said.
Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Saudi Arabia supports the rebels trying to overthrow him.
Meanwhile, al-Nimr’s family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya village in the kingdom’s al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia.
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The sheikh’s brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, has told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests. It offered no motive for the attack, nor for another it said saw a mob beat and briefly kidnap a man driving through the area. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sent in troops to help quash the revolt, viewing it as an Iranian bid to expand its influence.
