EGYPT: Visiting Riyadh on Tuesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry denounced the attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and said Iran’s behavior after al-Nimr’s execution amounts to “intervening in the kingdom’s internal affairs”.
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“It is not the moment for the Iranians to detonate mines in the Gulf” region as they await an effective lifting of sanctions and are about to start exporting oil again, said the diplomat.
The Iranian state’s disrespect for diplomatic protocol was the reason for the recent escalation of tension with Saudi Arabia and its allies.
The new crisis has had the effect of hardening a wider confrontation between the loose-knit coalitions of allies each can call upon in the region; some of Riyadh’s allies also cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after the embassy attack, while Iran’s warned of repercussions. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Saudi foreign minister on Monday that Riyadh’s decision to break off diplomatic ties with Iran was extremely troubling.
Al-Nimr, a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority, was executed after being convicted of sedition and of other crimes, though he long denied advocating violence. Iran supports a negotiated solution to differences of opinion between countries. Its execution of Nimr, while mainly driven by domestic politics, was also part of that open confrontation with Iran, according to political analysts. Iran is a key ally of the Shiite-led government in Baghdad, has helped it in the fight against the Islamic State group, and supports powerful Shiite militias in the country.
Saudi Arabia’s execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr has angered Shi’ites across the Middle East and caused a major diplomatic row between revolutionary, mainly Shi’ite Iran and Saudi Arabia’s conservative Sunni monarchy.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s mass executions renewed focus on the controversial deal. Judith Dwarkin, chief economist at ITG Investment Research, said that the confrontation with Saudi Arabia makes the Saudis unlikely to offset Iranian increases by trimming their own production – potentially adding to the glut. State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Washington expected meetings between the warring parties in Syria to take place as scheduled this month. Mr de Mistura has set a Jan 25 target date for a fourth round of talks.
“We are urging all sides to show some restraint and to not further inflame tensions that are on quite vivid display in the region”.
The Government was criticised in 2014 when it emerged that Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton did not raise concerns about human rights during their political engagements on a trade mission to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Shi’ite Iran hailed him as a “martyr” and warned Saudi Arabia’s ruling Al Saud family of “divine revenge”.
MP Abdullah Maayouf said recalling the Kuwaiti ambassador is not enough and the Kuwaiti government should take a tougher stance like that of Bahrain which cut off relations with Iran.
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Western powers, many of which supply billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Gulf Arab powers, tried to tamp down the tensions with Iran but also deplored the executions, as human rights groups strongly criticised Saudi Arabia’s judicial process and protesters gathered outside Saudi embassies.
