Saudi Arabia and Sunni Muslim allies are bombing Yemen in an attempt to repel the Shia rebel Houthi movement, which is allied with Iran.
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Staffan de Mistura, in a statement issued after talks in Riyadh with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir and the Syrian opposition, said: “There is a clear determination on the Saudi side that the current regional tensions will not have any negative impact on the Vienna momentum and on the continuation of the political process that the United Nations, together with the International Syria Support Group, intend to start in Geneva soon”.
5 it is ceasing all air services with Iran due to increasing tension between Riyadh and Tehran following Saudi Arabia’s execution of a Shia Moslem cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
The announcement comes after Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Bahrain severed ties with predominantly Shiite Iran this week. But the country did summon Iran’s ambassador Tuesday to give him a note of protest over the failure to protect Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic missions, calling the breach “a flagrant violation of global conventions and norms”.
Robin Wright is a joint fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and contributing writer for The New Yorker. For centuries the Shia under the Ottomans and then subsequently in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Bahrain were second-class citizens but the Iranian revolution caused a Shia awakening and demands for greater civil rights. It has said it will only restore them when Tehran stops meddling in the affairs of other countries.
The Gulf states have the right to be irritated.
The diplomatic row saw shares on Gulf exchanges drop and oil prices rebound amid fears instability could affect supplies from Saudi Arabia and Iran, both members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The bulk of Iran’s tough rhetoric has come from hardline groups like the Guards, some of whom have also criticised the nuclear deal agreed with world powers a year ago aimed at lifting most sanctions against the country. In the letter, obtained by The Associated Press, Iran’s United Nations envoy Gholamali Khoshroo said more than 40 protesters have been arrested and that authorities are searching for other suspects.
Earlier, Iran’s foreign ministry said Saudi Arabia was using the attack on its embassy in Tehran as a pretext to fuel tensions.
It is hard to believe that Saudi Arabia did not foresee that its decision to execute Sheikh al-Nimr would create a crisis with Iran.
Demonstrations outside the Saudi embassy and at Palestine Square in Tehran attracted around 1,500 people Sunday, with chants of “Death to the House of Saud”.
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has condemned the attacks and Tehran’s mission to the United Nations vowed in a letter to the Security Council to “take necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents in the future”. On Monday, Germany called on both sides to mend ties, while Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted an unnamed senior diplomat as saying Moscow is ready to act as a mediator.
